LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Four personal bests highlighted a fantastic weekend for the Bowdoin College cross country team at the 2021 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship Saturday at Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
 
The Polar Bears capped a phenomenal first season under new head coach Ben Raphelson with their most NCAA qualifiers since 2012, and all four competitors recorded huge personal bests at the meet.
 
Leila Trummel earned the top individual finish of the weekend for the Polar Bears, taking 94^th place in the women's 6K in a time of 22:25.4, demolishing her previous personal best of 23:11. Additionally, Cameron Mackenzie took 120^th in the 300-competitor event by crushing her personal best to a time to 22:34.4 from a previous standard of 23:19.  Both Trummel and Mackenzie made big moves over the course of the 6k. Trummel moved from 135^th at the 2K mark to her final position of 94^th, while Mackenzie jumped all the way from 156^th after 1K to her final position of 120.
 
In the men's 8K race, John Hood posted a time of 25:05.3, to take 151^st place overall in the 300-competior race, improving his personal best time by over a minute from 26:11. Andrew Meredith took 192^nd place in 25:25.8, improving his personal best from 25:49. Hood made a huge move during the span of the 8K, improving over 100 places after sitting in 263^rd at the 1K distance to his final finish of 151. Meredith moved up 50 spots overall, but 47 of those spots came in the final 3K of the race as he went from 239 to 192 in the final third of the competition.