BRUNSWICK – Dustin Gauthier put himself in the Bates College record book by breaking the 29-year-old standard in the shot put to help the Bobcats finish second in the ECAC indoor track and field championships held this weekend at Bowdoin College.

The Bates men scored 82 points to finish 10 points behind champion Cortland State.

Gauthier fired the 16-pound ball 53 feet, 4 inches, surpassing Bob Cedrone’s 1976 mark by a half-inch. The Bates junior beat his nearest foe by more than a foot and beat his previous best by 14 inches.

Senior Matt Ondra also brought home a gold medal with a record-setting performance in the pole vault. Ondra broke his own school mark by clearing 15-5.

The Bobcats swept the top four spots in the 35-pound weight throw, with Scott Cooper topping the field with a toss of 57-3. Gauthier, Jeff Davis and Jordan Upton completed the top four.

Joel Anderson took second place in the 5,000-meter run, while Sam Thomas was runner-up in the 500. Earning bronze medals for Bates were Joel Colony (55 dash) and Adam Macbeth (hurdles).

Women place fifth

Throwers Liz Wanless and Kelly Goodsey set meet records to lead Bates to a fifth-place finish at the women’s ECAC championships.

Wanless, who will be the No. 1 seed at nationals in the shot put, won the event with a meet record of 49-9, nearly five feet farther than second-place Goodsey.

No one came within six feet of Goodsey in the 20-pound weight throw. Her winning distance of 57-7 set a new ECAC standard.

Julie Dutton placed third in the 5,000.

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