Complete Results/Bates Press Release
LEWISTON, Maine--The Williams College Ephs finished 2nd at the Division III Indoor Championships on Saturday behind only rival M.I.T. Racing on the 200m flat track at Bates College, the Ephs heavily outperfromed expectations with many athletes finishing much better than their seed times suggested. The jumps unit was spectacular last year at the Indoor Championships; this year they were even better. Scoring significantly more points than expected, the jumps unit led by newly-minted NCAA Automatic qualifier Tomas Kearney '12, gave the Ephs a shot to win the meet until the very end.
The Ephs hold themselves to the highest of standards and winning the Championships is always the goal; however, the post-meet atmosphere is best descibed as satisifed, definitely not disappointed. Captain Cullen Roberts summarized it best, speaking to the team in a post-meet gathering: "You guys should be proud of the way you competed today. This was one of the strongest efforts I have ever witnessed at Williams. Hold your heads high because you guys battled today."
The Ephs got off to a strong start on Friday, where Isaac Nicholson '11 finished 2nd in the pentathlon to score 8 points while Chris Fogler '13 chipped in three as the event's 6th place finisher. Nicholson came back on Saturday to score crucial points in both the high jump (3rd place) and the long jump (8th). When asked about which performance over the two days Nicholson was happiest with he replied, "The shot put, surprisingly. It's not my strongest event but I PR'd by over 50 centimeters. I was very satisfied with the improvement." Nicholson was bested in the high jump by teammate Tomas Kearney '12 (2nd place), the undisputed athlete of the meet. Most notably, Kearney jumped his six best all-time jumps in the triple jump. In other words, every single jump on the day was an all-time personal best. His last was an NCAA automatic qualifier of 14.80m, a full .87m farther than he had ever jumped before Saturday. Steve Rubin '11 remained true to form as a big meet jumper, scoring in the triple while Fogler '13 added two points in the high jump.
Teammate Taylor Fitzgerald '11, not competing himself due to injury, had nothing but praise for Kearney. "I went to his high school and he was overshadowed by another guy in the triple jump," noted "Fitz." "He had been telling me over the last couple weeks that things were really starting to come together and he really proved himself today. I'm ecstatic for my teammate."
Kearney himself chose only to comment on the team's effort: "It is great to be a part of a team that competes as hard as this team does. The team cohesiveness is amazing."
Rusty Cowher '12, the team's lone competitor in throwing events, had a strong throw to make the finals of the weight throw but just missed scoring with his 9th place finish.
The Ephs got early momentum behind strong efforts by Edgar Kosgey '10 and Brian Cole '11 in the mile. Kosgey won his heat (the fast heat) in 4:18 but finished 2nd after a wonderful performance by a Southern Maine athlete in the slow heat. Kosgey led the race from tape to tape, running a blistering first 800m in 2:05 before succumbing slightly to exhaustion to run 2:13 for the second 800. Cole moved up throughout the race, kicking as early as 500m to go, to finished 3rd in his heat and 4th overall. Kosgey '10 then came back and ran a masterful 800m to win that event and score another ten points for the team. Kosgey took the lead with just 40m to go and held on for the win.
Connor Kamm '10 ran a tactically brilliant race to win the 3000m. Hanging on the shoulder of the lead pack for the first half of the race, Kamm made his move with about 600 to go. His final 400m was run in just 63 seconds as he opened his stride up to win by over five seconds. Andrew Gaidus '11 also deserves praise for a gutsy performance in the slow heat of the 3000m. His time of 8:46 was good for 6th place. Finally, Anthony Raduazo '12 led for the entire second half of the 5000m before Dan Murner of Amherst unleashed a 29 second last 200m to take the race. The pack ran even 74 and 75 second laps throughout the first half before Raduazo began dropping 71's. He finished 2nd, scoring 8 crucial points for the Ephs.
