The Bates Bobcats are the athletic teams of

Bates College Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...

largely based in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is List of cities in Maine, the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, August ...

and the surrounding areas. The college's official mascot has been the

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

since 1924, and maintains

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different s ...

as its official color. The school sponsors 32 varsity sports (16 men's, 16 women's), most of which compete in the

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

New England Small College Athletic Conference The New England Small Collegiate Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising sports teams from eleven highly selective Liberal arts education, liberal arts institutions of high ...

(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 Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

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 The Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB) is an athletic conference and academic consortium between three private liberal arts colleges in the U.S. State of Maine. The group consists of Colby College in Waterville, Bates College in Lewiston, ...

(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. 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 Colby–Bates–Bowdoin Chase Regatta (often abbreviated CBB Chase or the "Chase Regatta") is an annual rowing regatta between the men's and women's heavyweight varsity and club rowing crews of Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin College. The colleges h ...

. 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. Campus_bates_college1

Bates maintains 31 varsity teams, and 9 club teams, including sailing, cycling, ice hockey, rugby, and water polo. 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. In April 2005, the college's athletic program was ranked in the top 5% of national athletics programs. As of 2018, the college has graduated a total of 12 Olympians, one of whom won the

Olympic Gold Medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

rowing for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The Bobcats have broken records on the state, regional and national level. In the 2015 season, the women's

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

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. 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.

Men's sports

Men's football

The men's football team competes in the

(NESCAC). The football team is led by head coach, Matt Coyne. The Bobcats played Toledo in the 1946

Glass Bowl The Glass Bowl is a stadium in Toledo, Ohio. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the American football team of the University of Toledo Rockets. It is located on the school's Bancroft campus, just south of the ba ...

, losing 21–12.

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 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

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.

Men's baseball

Men's golf

Men's lacrosse

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. In 2015, the team reported 156 points scored, ranking them 6th in-conference, and 5th overall.

Men's rowing

The Men's Rowing team is headed by Peter Steenstra, who was awarded the 2015 Division III Coach of the Year Award by the College Rowing Coaches Association, after also receiving Men's and Women's Coach of the Year honors from both the

(NESCAC) and the

Eastern College Athletic Conference The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location fro ...

(ECAC). Alumni,

Andrew Byrnes James Andrew Byrnes (born May 22, 1983) is a Canadian rower and Olympic gold medallist. He was born in Toronto, Ontario and raised in Ithaca, New York. Byrnes is a 2005 graduate of Bates College in Maine, where he rowed for the Bates Rowing Team ...

(class of 2005), won the

while rowing for the Canadian National Team, in 2008 in the Beijing Olympics.

Men's tennis

Men's rugby

Men's nordic skiing

Men's cross country

Men's track & field

Men's squash

Women's sports

Women's rowing

The Women's Rowing team is headed by Peter Steenstra, who was awarded the 2015 Division III Coach of the Year Award by the College Rowing Coaches Association, after also receiving Men's and Women's Coach of the Year honors from both the

(NESCAC) and the

(ECAC). The women's rowing team is the first rowing team to sweep every major rowing competition in its athletic conference in the history of Division III athletics, a feat completed in 2015. According to ''U.S. Rowing'', the Women's Rowing Team is ranked 1st in the

, and 1st overall in NCAA Division III Rowing, as of 2016.

Women's track & field

Women's squash

Women's soccer

Women's basketball

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 ''

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''/

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Today 25 National Coaches' Poll. 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.

Women's cross country

Club sports

Volleyball

Ice hockey

As of 2016, the men's club ice hockey team is ranked #5 in the Northeast, and #25 overall in the NESCHA rankings.

Sailing team

The college's sailing team is based at the Taylor Pond Yacht Club, in

Auburn, Maine Auburn is a city in south-central Maine within the United States. The city serves as the county seat of Androscoggin County. The population was 24,061 at the 2020 census. Auburn and its sister city Lewiston are known locally as the Twin Cities ...

. The team sails in the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) conference with its main competitors being Bowdoin,

Tufts Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, and

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, among the other 40+ schools in the conference. The team regularly competes at the largest collegeiate keelboat regatta in the Western Hemisphere, the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta (IOR) held at

Larchmont Yacht Club Larchmont Yacht Club is a private, members-only yacht club situated on Larchmont Harbor in the Village of Larchmont, in Westchester County, New York. History The club was founded in June 1880 by Frank L. Anthony, Fred W. Flint, William C. ...

by the Storm Trysail Foundation). The team regularly updates thei
website
and their social media platforms.

Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium

Olympians

As of 2018, the college has graduated a total of 12 Olympians, one of whom won the