The Bates Bobcats are the athletic teams of Bates College largely based in Lewiston, Maine and the surrounding areas. The college's official mascot has been the bobcat since 1924, and maintains garnet as its official color. The school sponsors 32 varsity sports (16 men's, 16 women's), most of which compete in the Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The school's men's and women's ski teams and men's and women's squash teams compete in Division I. Bates has rivalries with Princeton in Squash and Dartmouth in Skiing and selected hockey bouts. The college also competes with its Maine rivals Bowdoin and Colby in the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB). This is one of the oldest football rivalries in the United States. This consortium is a series of historically highly competitive football games ending in the championship game between the three schools. Bates has won this championship at total of twelve times including 2014, 2015, and in 2016 beat Bowdoin 24–7 after their 21–19 abroad victory over Colby.[3][4] Bates is currently the holder of the winning streak, and has the record for biggest victory in the athletic conference with a 51–0 shutout of Colby College. The three colleges also contest the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Chase Regatta. The college is the all-time leader of the Chase Regatta with a total of 14 composite wins, followed by Colby's 5 wins, concluded with Bowdoin's 2 wins.
Bates maintains 31 varsity teams, and 9 club teams, including sailing, cycling, ice hockey, rugby, and water polo.[5] According to U.S. Rowing, the Women's Rowing Team is ranked first in the NESCAC, and first overall in NCAA Division III Rowing, as of 2016.[6][7] In April 2005, the college's athletic program was ranked in the top 5% of national athletics programs.[8] As of 2018, the college has graduated a total of 12 Olympians, one of whom won the Olympic Gold Medal rowing for Canada.[9] The Bobcats have broken records on the state, regional and national level. In the 2015 season, the women's rowing team was the most decorated rowing team in collegiate racing while also being the first to sweep every major rowing competition in its athletic conference in the history of Division III athletics. The ice hockey team is the first team to win the NESCAC Club Ice Hockey Championships four times in a row. In 2015, the men's rowing team had the fastest ascension in rankings of any sport in its athletic conference and was named the NESCAC Rowing Champion.[10] Bates has the 5th highest NESCAC title hold, and holds the top titles in women's and men's rowing. Bates follows Bowdoin's 30 NESCAC titles with its 16, and its followed by Colby's 9 titles.
Bates won five straight games to capture the state title.
Won
[16]
The Bobcats played Toledo in the 1946 Glass Bowl, losing 21–12.[17]
Men's basketball
Bates College's men's basketball team is led by head coach Jon Furbush, and in 2015 he led the team to the semi-finals of the NCAA Division III Basketball Championships. He is the youngest head coach in the history of the team and was named the 2014–15 Maine Coach of the Year by the Maine Men's Basketball Coaches and Writers Association.[18]
The men's lacrosse team is led by head coach, Peter Lasagna, who has been head for the past 16 seasons. In 2015, Lasagna won his third NESCAC Coach of the Year and has led the Bobcats to five appearances in the NESCAC Championship.[27] In 2015, the team reported 156 points scored, ranking them 6th in-conference, and 5th overall.[28]
The competition has been won by Trinity College for every year it has been in the athletic conference, competing against Williams College for first spot. In 2016, breaking the pattern, Bates defeated Williams and secured the second place after a loss to Trinity.
2nd place
[59]
2015
National Squash Championship
The winning student being the first in the history of the athletic conference, to be named the All American all four years he played for the college.
The 2004 women's basketball team was ranked first in the United States for most of February 2005 and finished the year ranked number six by the USA Today/ESPN Today 25 National Coaches' Poll.[86] The women's basketball team earned the top seed in the NESCAC in 2005, and competed in the finals with Bowdoin for three consecutive years until 2008.[87]
The first time the college has ever won an ice hockey championship.
Won
[94]
Sailing team
The college's sailing team is based at the Taylor Pond Yacht Club, in Auburn, Maine. The team sails in the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) conference with its main competitors being Bowdoin, Tufts, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among the other 40+ schools in the conference.[95] The team regularly competes at the largest collegiate keelboat regatta in the Western Hemisphere, the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta (IOR) held at Larchmont Yacht Club by the Storm Trysail Foundation. The team regularly updates their website and their social media platforms.
Year
Competition
Record
Result
Cite
2018
New England Dinghy Tournament (NEISA Club Team Championship)
The field was originally constructed in 1899, and is one of the oldest football pitches in the United States; it had a major renovation in 2010.
[105]
Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building
N/A
Multi-purpose
1927
Informally known as the "Gray Cage", the building is the second largest athletic facility on campus, which has a batting cage and room for a full infield baseball practice.
[106]
Davis Fitness Center
N/A
Fitness
1926
Full service weight room located beneath UnderhiIll Ice Arena.
[107]
Leahey Baseball Pitch
N/A
Baseball
2003
Outdoor baseball field.
[108]
Lafayette Street Pitch
N/A
Softball
2001
Outdoor softball field.
[109]
Underhill Arena Ice Rink
N/A
Ice hockey
1995
The ice rink features "a 200-by-85-foot ice surface."
[110]
Rowing Boathouse
N/A
Rowing
1988
Houses women's and men's rowing teams.
[111]
Tarbell Pool
300
Swimming & Diving
1980
The pool features "eight lanes and an underwater window, and can be configured into 25-meter or 25-yard lane lengths."
^"Jason Fein named director of athletics at Bates College". April 7, 2017.
^Bates Bobcats Athletics Brand Identity Guide(PDF). May 1, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
^"2016-17 Football Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
^"Football secures second consecutive CBB championship with win over Bowdoin – The Bates Student". The Bates Student. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
^"Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
^"California Takes the Top – Barry and Bates Hold in USRowing/CRCA Week Five Poll". www.usrowing.org. Archived from the original on April 28, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
^"Women's rowing team dominates the New England Rowing Championships | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
^"Bates ranked in top 5 percent of national athletics programs News Bates College". www.bates.edu. April 14, 2005. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
^"Bates Men, Women Sweep NESCAC Rowing Championships – NESCAC". www.nescac.com. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
^"2016-17 Football Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
^"Football secures second consecutive CBB championship with win over Bowdoin – The Bates Student". The Bates Student. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
^"Football preview: Bates begins defense of its CBB title at Colby | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
^ abcdefghijk"History of Bowdoin Football – Bowdoin". athletics.bowdoin.edu. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
^"November 1956: A State Series victory for football | 150 Years | Bates College". www.bates.edu. March 22, 2010. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
^Levin, Adam (October 2, 1996). "70 Years Ago, The Glass Bowl Slipper Fit the Bates Football Team". Bates Magazine (Fall 1996 ed.). Retrieved January 15, 2017 – via bates.edu.
^ ab"Bates Men, Women Sweep NESCAC Rowing Championships – NESCAC". www.nescac.com. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
^"EISA Skiing". Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
^ abcde"NESCAC". www.nescac.com. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
^ abcdef"Bates wins seventh straight Maine State Men's Outdoor Championship | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ abcde"2015 Men's Track & Field Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"2015 Men's Track & Field Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Men's Track & Field 2013-14 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Men's Track & Field 2012-13 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ abcd"Men's Track & Field 2012-13 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Men's Track & Field 2011-12 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Men's Track & Field 2011-12 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ ab"NESCAC". www.nescac.com. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
^"Men's Track & Field 2011-12 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Men's Track & Field 2011-12 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Men's Track & Field 2010-11 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ abcde"Men's Track & Field 2010-11 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Men's Track & Field 2009-10 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"NESCAC". www.nescac.com. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
^"Shot by shot, an inside look at Bates squash champ Ahmed Abdel Khalek's road to victory | News | Bates College". www.bates.edu. March 24, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
^"Bates' Abdel Khalek Wins 2015 Men's Individual Championship | College Squash Association". collegesquashassociation.com. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
^"California Takes the Top – Barry and Bates Hold in USRowing/CRCA Week Five Poll". www.usrowing.org. Archived from the original on April 28, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
^"Bates College wins 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Rowing Championship | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
^ abcd"Women's rowing team dominates the New England Rowing Championships | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
^"Women's rowing wins six All-NESCAC honors; Steenstra repeats as Coach of the Year | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
^ abcde"2015-16 Women's Track & Field Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"2015 Women's Track & Field Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ abc"2013-14 Women's Track and Field Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"2013-14 Women's Track and Field Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Women's Track and Field 2012-13 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ abc"Women's Track and Field 2012-13 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ ab"Women's Track and Field 2011-12 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Women's Track & Field 2010-11 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Women's Track & Field 2009-10 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"No. 19 women's squash rallies to top No. 17 Amherst 5-4 and win the Walker Cup | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"NESCAC". www.nescac.com. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
^"2015-16 Bates Women's Cross Country Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ ab"Women's Cross Country 2013-14 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ ab"Women's Cross Country 2012-13 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^"Women's Cross Country 2010-11 Schedule | Athletics | Bates College". athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ abcd"NESCAC". www.nescac.com. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
^"League Standings Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association (NECHA) – Pointstreak Sites". pointstreaksites.com. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
^ abcdef"Bates College Men's Ice Hockey The Official Website". www.bateshockey.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
^"Bates College Sailing Constitution" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 18, 2015.
^"NE Fall Tournament | Fall 2018". ICSA Real-Time Regatta Results. Retrieved July 10, 2020.