NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Senior captain Andrew Mottur and first-year Christopher Pottle paced the Bates men's cross country team in the "blue" and "white" races respectively Saturday at the Connecticut College Invitational.

Mottur (Rumford, R.I.) finished 29th out of 269 runners in the blue race, crossing the finish line in 24:51.2. Fellow senior captain Ben Huston (Vergennes, Vt.) finished in 50th place in 25:09.6. As a team, the Bobcats scored 323 points, good for ninth place out of 35 schools, and ahead of rivals Bowdoin and Colby. 

In the white race, Pottle (Winthrop, Maine) recorded a time of 25:43.4, good for 13th place out of 276 runners. Senior captain Nick Brown (Hopkinton, Mass.) took 21st place in 26:01.1 and senior Nathaneul Benioff (Narberth, Pa.) and first-year Kyle Verner (Acton, Mass.) also finished in the top 30 in 27th and 28th place respectively. 

As a team, the Bobcats scored 117 points in the white race, good for fifth place out of 22 schools, and ahead of rivals Bowdoin and Colby.

The Bobcats are back in action on Saturday, Nov. 2 when they compete in the NESCAC Championships at Pickard Field Cross Country Course in Brunswick, Maine.