The men’s squad placed third out of 38 teams, while the women’s placed third out of 39. Between both teams, the Bearcats had six medalists, the most they have achieved in the Paul Short Brown Race.

(0:25) “Both teams, I thought, had good performances overall,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “We had a lot of kids who ran personal bests on that course at Lehigh, and certainly it’s always nice to get a top-three finish as a team.”

On the men’s team, sophomore Bobby Mayclim placed 10th in the race out of 314 finishers, registering a time of 24:41.8 in the 8k. Following him was junior Liam Cody, who finished 24th with a time of 25:07.3, and senior Andrew Rosenblatt in 25th place with a time of 25:08.3. All three received medals for placing in the top 25 racers.

The Bearcats men’s squad had four more players finish in the top 100 for the team, sealing their third-place finish, trailing behind only George Washington and American.

(2:33) “It was definitely a nice performance by [Mayclim],” Acuff said. “It ended up just being a little hot running later in the afternoon. I think that affected us, more than anything, was just the heat.”

Meanwhile, the women’s squad was headlined by senior Sydney Leitner, who finished 12th overall in the 6k with a time of 21:16.0, and now holds the highest finish for the women’s team in its history in the Paul Short Brown Race. Along with Leitner, the team had two other medalists in sophomore Anna Gansrow, who finished in 20th with a time of 21:34.2, and freshman Alice Rappazzo, who finished in 22nd with a time of 21:36.0.

The women’s team saw three more Bearcats finish in the top 100, once again leading them to a third-place finish, falling only behind George Washington and Iona.

(3:36) “[Leitner’s] time was her second fastest ever on that course,” Acuff said. “So, considering the conditions with the heat, etc., certainly that was a great performance from her. Another good step forward from the Iona meet. We saw a lot of improvement with the team from Iona and Colgate to Lehigh.”

Just three of the finishers in the top 100 across both the men’s and women’s squads are in their last year with the team, as many of the team’s top players will maintain NCAA eligibility beyond the 2025 campaign. Most notably, Mayclim, Gansrow and Rappazzo currently possess at minimum two years of future NCAA eligibility.

(5:22) “We have one more good opportunity to put in a hard week of training this week,” Acuff said. “So that’s our plan, to get in another really good week of training, and then get ready for Canisius, give everyone another opportunity to compete one last time.”

The cross country team will next compete at the Canisius Alumni Challenge on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Buffalo, New York The event is set to begin at Delaware Park at noon.

“I felt that we performed really well,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “The team score wasn’t as high as we have been in the past, but the individuals we had performed really well.”

“We had some injuries, and we were missing some people, and the women’s team was very young, and that’s why the score wasn’t as high, but I couldn’t be happier with the actual performances of the people who were there,” he continued.

Graduate student Marcus Johnson finished first in the 400 hurdles for the second year in a row with a program record of 50.49. He also won silver in the triple jump with a distance of 48-0. Johnson finished the weekend being named the Men’s Most Outstanding Track Athlete, and his time for the 400 hurdles is currently ranked No. 11 in NCAA East Region rankings.

Sophomore Brennan Delany tallied 7,049 points in the decathlon, earning him gold and the Men’s Rookie of the Meet. Rounding out the men’s individual first-place finishes for the Bearcats was graduate student Josh Stone, who finished the 5,000 at 14:15.73.

“[Johnson] in the 400 hurdles PR’d by three or almost four tenths of a second, so that was fantastic,” Thompson said. “He’s one of the top runners in the country right down in the 400 hurdles, so that was great. Josh Stone in the 5K, he’s had some races this year where his body’s just not cooperating with him and he’s fighting through it, and he’s a really tough competitor, but it was really nice to see him finally have a race where he just felt really good.”

Continuing the Bearcats’ success was the men’s 4×400 team, who beat the odds and took home gold with a time of 3:10.88, courtesy of Johnson, graduate student Oliver Madariaga, senior Joe Cardascia, and junior Samson Joseph. Redshirt sophomore Brian Luciano won silver in the hammer throw with a distance of 210-6 and fourth in the discus with 152-10, while sophomore Putu Sutayasa recorded a distance of 23-4, placing third.

On the women’s side, senior Jennifer Mui brought home gold in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 10:17.89, currently No. 31 in the East Region. Taking silver in the 1,500 was freshman Anna Gansrow, finishing at 4:40.50.

Freshman Savanna Edwards took home bronze in the 400 hurdles at 1:01.94. Three Bearcats made the top five at the pole vault: junior Alyssa Armitage in second with a distance of 12-7.5; sophomore Tatum Norris in third with 12-1.5; and freshman Siena Jacobson in fifth with 11-1.75.

“I thought [Mui’s] performance was, again, fantastic,” Thompson said. “That was like a 15-second PR or somewhere around there, or 17 seconds, I think it was, which is a huge amount of time to take off in a 3,000-meter steeplechase. It’s a time that will probably qualify her for regionals, so on the women’s side, that was the performance of the meet.”

Three Bearcats on the women’s team finished fourth in their events: junior Sydney Leitner in the 10,000 at 36:56.10; Norris in the 400 dash at 55.44; and sophomore Dami Modupe in the 100 hurdles at 14.20.

Eight Bearcats were named to the Men’s All-Conference team: Stone, Johnson, Delany, Luciano, Sutayasa, Madariaga, Joseph and Cardascia. Mui, Armitage, Norris, Gansrow and Edwards were named to the Women’s All-Conference team.

The Bearcats are set to compete in the ECAC/IC4A Championships from Friday, May 16 to Sunday, May 18. The first event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the George Mason Stadium in Fairfax, Virginia.

“I thought it was a really good meet,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “I felt that the distance runners and sprinters, especially, had a good weekend.”

Highlighting the Bearcat men’s performance was graduate student Marcus Johnson, who placed first in the 400 hurdles with a time of 50.98 and second in the triple jump with a distance of 14.51m. Sophomore Liam Cody took home silver in the 1,500 with a time of 3:55.54. In the 110-meter hurdles was sophomore Brennan Delany, who placed fourth with a time of 14.60. Rounding out the top-five finishes for BU was sophomore Putu Sutayasa, who finished fifth in the long jump with a distance of 7.07m.

“The hurdle race was excellent,” Thompson said. “That time will almost certainly qualify [Johnson] for the regional championships, so it was great that he could run that well right out of the gate. You know, last year, he ran a little bit faster, but it was at the very end of the season, so he’s in a great spot. The triple jump, his distance wasn’t his best, but he was jumping really well, he just kept fouling his good jump, so it was a great weekend for Marcus.”

Other standout performances came from freshman Oliver Jibb, who placed sixth in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 9:23.95, and junior Matthew Oluwole, who tied for sixth in the high jump with a distance of 1.93m. Sophomore Jose Iraola-Ceely placed seventh in the hammer throw with a distance of 48.68m.

“I just think that the sprinters as a whole were solid,” Thompson said. “I was really impressed with the men’s 4×1 relay, because most of the regular runners on that relay didn’t run, so we kind of threw it together last minute, and they ran very well. So it was it was nice to see them, one get the chance and two run a really good relay, so I thought that was great.”

On the women’s side, senior Jennifer Mui took home gold in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 10:37.05. Graduate student Gianna Hoose placed second in the hammer throw with a distance of 49.25m. Finishing off the Bearcat women’s top-five finishes was junior Sydney Leitner in the 5,000 with a distance of 17:07.09 that earned her fourth place.

“I thought the highlight was Jen Mui in the steeplechase, she ran very well,” Thompson said. “Again, the sprinters and the hurdlers, they really, as a whole, did well.”

Continuing the Bearcats’ success was sophomore Carlea Davis in the triple jump, who placed seventh with a distance of 11.61m. Two Bearcats placed eighth in their respective events, sophomore Deborah Estabine in both the hammer with a distance of 45.99m and the shot put with a distance of 11.81m, and freshman Siena Jacobson in the pole vault with a distance of 3.55m.

“Carlea Davis in the triple jump [has] really come on strong in the past couple of months,” Thompson said. “She had her first ever 38-foot triple jump, which was a huge barrier for her, and I thought that was also a highlight.”

The Bearcats will head to Bucknell to compete at the Bison Outdoor Challenge from Saturday, April 12 to Sunday, April 13. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

“It’s been a very good season, but there have been some challenges as well,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “So it’s been frustrating in some ways, but I feel that the team really came together when it counted most this past weekend, so, yeah, overall, I’m very pleased with the season.”

The first day of action saw the Bearcats come out strong, with redshirt sophomore Brian Luciano, junior Alyssa Armitage and graduate student Josh Stone all defending their individual conference titles. Luciano took home gold in the men’s weight throw with a distance of 71-2.5, which broke his own school record. Armitage took home her third consecutive win in the women’s pole vault with a distance of 12-7.5 and became the first female athlete to win three straight individual conference titles since 2010-12. Stone’s 14:09.60 earned him a win in the 5,000m, and he has now won three AE 5,000m titles.

“It was very exciting,” Thompson said. “It’s always easier to chase than it is to be chased, so, when you’re a defending champion, it’s a little more pressure. [Luciano] threw very well, it was his personal best, and [Stone] looked amazing, the last lap of the race he just was on fire and won pretty easily. [Armitage] was struggling a little bit … But she still found a way to win, so that was impressive as well.”

Day one continued with graduate students Gianna Hoose and Penelope Paldino taking home silver in the women’s weight throw with a distance of 59-11.75 and the pentathlon with 3,380 points, respectively. Sophomore Tatum Norris tied for third place in the women’s pole vault with a distance of 11-7.75. Fourth-place finishes included sophomore Deborah Estabine in the women’s weight throw with a distance of 57-4.25, junior Sydney Leitner in the women’s 5,000 with a time of 16:57.19, sophomore Putu Sutayasa in the men’s long jump with a leap of 23-0.75 and freshman Jacob Park in the men’s pole vault with a distance of 15-6.25.

“It was a very good first day, [and] I thought that we did what we needed to do,” Thompson said. “We typically are a very good first-day team because of the pole vault and the weight throw, the 5K, the distance medley relay … Long jump as well, we’re traditionally pretty strong, so, we’re always a very good first-day team. I felt that we did exactly what we should have done.”

On Sunday, graduate student Jenna Chan took home gold in the women’s 60 hurdles with a time of 8.36, marking this the third title of her career. Graduate student Marcus Johnson captured a first-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 50-2.5 — his second AE title after winning the 400 hurdles last spring. Senior Joe Cardascia also captured a first-place finish in the 500m with a time of 1:03.11, breaking the school record and winning his first individual career title. Rounding out Binghamton’s first-place finishes was sophomore Brennan Delany, who won the heptathlon with 5,089 points.

“They performed very well, so I couldn’t have been happier,” Thompson said. “[Johnson] went over to the triple jump and on his last jump moved from third place to first place and had a personal best in his first 50-foot jump and that was one of the big performances of the meet, not just because he won and jumped far, but because he had just crashed in the 200 [after being knocked out of the race] and didn’t let it affect him at all. I mean, he was very composed the whole weekend.”

Day two continued with two runner-up performances from junior Matthew Oluwole in the high jump with 6-5 and Stone in the 3,000 with a time of 8:13.95. Earning bronze titles were freshman Anna Gansrow in the mile with a time of 4:56.10 and senior Lucciana Robertson in the high jump with a leap of 5-7. Rounding out the Bearcat’s top-five finishes on Sunday was Norris in the 200m, who placed fourth with a time of 24.53.

Three Bearcats earned three of the major awards. Luciano was named the Most Outstanding Men’s Field Athlete, Stone was named the Men’s Most Outstanding Track Athlete and Paldino earned the America’s East Women’s Indoor Track & Field Elite 18 Award for her performance during the meet and her academic accomplishments. The Binghamton men’s all-conference selections included Luciano, Stone, Johnson, Delany, Cardascia and Oluwole. The women’s all-conference team selections were Chan, Armitage, Paldino, Hoose, Norris and Gansrow.

“[For Paldino], the Elite 18, that was a total surprise,” Thompson said. “She was very excited and we were all very excited as well. So it’s always fun to get those individual awards, in addition to the team awards and that sort of thing.”

The Bearcats are set to return to Boston to compete in the ECAC/IC4A Championships from Friday, March 7 to Sunday, March 9. The first event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

“I feel we’re in a good spot,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “I’m curious to see how we perform next weekend, but overall, I think we are in a pretty good spot going into the conference.”

The weekend started at Boston University, where Binghamton competed at the Valentine’s Invitational from Friday to Saturday. The most notable performance at the meet came from senior Joe Cardascia, who competed in the 400m, where he placed fourth with a time of 47.93. On Saturday, the Bearcats headed to Cornell University, where they competed in the Kane Invitational. This meet saw several outstanding performances for Binghamton.

On the women’s side, graduate student Jenna Chan once again tied her school record that she set last weekend in the 60 hurdles. Chan came in first with a time of 8.35, marking her fifth win in this event this season. Graduate student Penelope Paldino took home silver in the same event with a time of 8.56, marking the third-fastest time in program history. Fellow graduate student Gianna Hoose took home gold in the weight throw with a distance of 58-7.25. Senior Lucciana Robertson also took home a first-place finish in the high jump with a distance of 5-6.5.

“[Chan] performed very well, like she generally does,” Thompson said. “I thought on the women’s side, the two standout performances to me were [Paldino] in the hurdles, which was a huge performance for her but also [sophomore Carlea Davis] in the triple jump, who I think placed fourth and maybe wouldn’t stand out right away, but it was a personal best for her by almost two feet.”

The Bearcats did not stop there, as three women took home bronze: junior Alyssa Armitage in the pole vault with a distance of 12-9.5, senior Zoe Rose in the 800m with a time of 2:23.47 and sophomore Abigail Litwiller in the 3,000m with a time of 10:56.64. Davis competed in the triple jump, where she took home a fourth-place finish with a distance of 36-6.25.

“I was happy with [freshman Justin Hargraves] and [sophomore Marcus Nahim] in the 60,” Thompson said. “I know they both probably wanted to run faster, but they ran well, they’ve been consistent. [Hargraves has] had a couple tough meets in a row, so it was nice to see him back, but I think that they’re really going to do well at the conference meet. I think they’re both set up to take it to another level and contribute next weekend.”

On the men’s side, freshman John Garrison took home gold in the 3,000m with a time of 9:06.98. In the 60m, Hargraves took home silver with a time of 6.91, followed by Nahim in third with a time of 6.92. Two Bearcats took home fourth-place finishes in their respective events, sophomore Brennan Delany in the long jump with a distance of 22-4.25 and freshman Jacob Park in the pole vault with a distance of 14-7.25. With this final weekend coming to a close, Binghamton will head into the next week preparing for the conference meet.

“This week will be about just staying sharp, not a lot of volume of work so that they can recover and feel really fresh and ready to go this weekend,” Thompson said. “All the work has been done, so this week will be pretty light and we’ll just give them a chance to feel recovered and at their best.”

The Bearcats will head back to Boston University to compete at the America East Conference Championships from Saturday, Feb. 22. to Sunday, Feb 23. The first event is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Boston University Track & Tennis in Boston, Massachusetts.

“I feel like about half of the team is right on track and doing really well and I feel like the other half isn’t quite there yet,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “So hopefully in the next couple of weeks everybody will get on the same page and we’ll be good going into conference.”

Graduate student Jenna Chan competed in the 60 hurdles and finished with a time of 8.35. Chan’s distance in the event broke her own school record, earning her a first-place finish. Another standout performer was junior Alyssa Armitage in the pole vault, where she took home silver with a distance of 13-1.5. In addition, sophomore Kaya Duran finished third in the 500 with a time of 1:24.13. Senior Lucciana Robertson also took home bronze in the high jump with a distance of 5-7.25.

“It was a great race for [Chan],” Thompson said. “She’d been running kind of the same times for most of the season, so it was good to see her finally have that one breakout race. So that was very exciting.”

On the men’s side in the weight throw was redshirt sophomore Brian Luciano, who finished first with a distance of 67-11. Graduate student Marcus Johnson also took home gold in the 500 with a time of 1:04.36. Sophomore Brennan Delany finished fourth in the 60 hurdles with distances of 8.26. Graduate student Oliver Madariaga also took home a fourth-place finish in the 400 with a time of 48.49.

“[Johnson] ran very well, and he has been running well, so that was nice to see,” Thompson said. “[Luciano], you know, he won, but for him, that was an average throw. 
I mean, he’s just better than most people, so I doubt he was happy with that performance even though he won, but he won’t compete until the conference meet. Now he’ll take this coming weekend off. He’s a gamer, I mean, he’s a great competitor, so I fully expect him to do very well in two weeks at the conference meet.”

Other standout performances from the meet include sophomore Putu Sutayasa, who finished fifth in the long jump with a distance of 22.25. Also finishing in fifth were sophomore Marcus Nahim and freshman Bobby Mayclim in the 60 and 3,000, with times of 6.92 and 8:24.58, respectively. In the weight throw, graduate student Gianna Hoose finished in fourth with a distance of 58-8.50. Sophomore Tatum Norris finished fifth in the 200 with a time of 24.88. Last, was sophomore Dami Modupe in the 60 hurdles, who finished fifth with a time of 8.77.

“I thought that Armitage, actually, even though she jumped what for her is kind of a typical height, she jumped very well,” Thompson said. “So sometimes, in the pole vault, you can jump really high, but still hit the bar and it comes off. And so she was jumping very well, and I was very excited about that moving forward. Sutayasa in the long jump, he had a couple of really big jumps that were foul. So even though his distance was average for him, you can tell that he’s ready to go and really hit a big jump.”

Along with those events, there were several other Bearcats who finished within the top-10 in their respective categories, such as sophomore Liam Cody, freshman Andrew Fasone, freshman Caleb Alexandre, junior Matthew Oluwole, and freshman Anna Gansrow. This weekend was a chance for Binghamton to continue its preparations for the America East (AE) Championship meet in two weeks.

“We will approach it like we always approach it,” Thompson said. “That’s to cut the volume back and let them rest and recover and high-intensity workouts, but put much lower volume and just hopefully they’ll feel, you know, well-rested when they get to the conference meeting two weeks.”

The Bearcats will head to Boston University to compete at the Valentine’s Invitational from Friday, Feb. 14. to Saturday, Feb. 15. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Boston University Track & Tennis Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

“I thought as a whole the meet went really well,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “There were a few people that were a little bit off, but I would say most people performed well and, with a few weeks left before the [America East conference meet], they’re in great shape and should really be sharp and ready to go for the biggest indoor meet of the year.”

Redshirt sophomore Brian Luciano broke his own school record in the weight throw this weekend, taking home gold with a distance of 70-1.5. He becomes the first-ever Bearcat to surpass the 70-foot mark in the weight throw, and his distance of 70-1.5 now unofficially ranks No. 26 in the nation. Along with his new record, he also remains undefeated this season in the weight throw with a first-place finish at Penn State.

“[Luciano is] in a perfect spot for where he should be in the season,” Thompson said. “His goal a couple days ago was to improve his distance on the national level, because he’s right on the cusp of qualifying for the national championships, so he improved, it was his first 70-foot throw. Overall, it was just good to see him continue to improve and he’s got a couple more competitions left and hopefully he can add like another meter to his personal best and that should get him to the national championship.”

Senior Joe Cardascia broke the program record in the 500m with a 1:03.13, which was originally set in 2014 with a time of 1:03.36. His performance also earned him a second-place finish. In the 4×400 relay, BU finished in third with a time of 3:15.00 courtesy of graduate students Marcus Johnson and Oliver Madariaga, junior Samson Joseph and Cardascia. Freshman Oliver Jibb ran the 5,000m, and his time of 14:50.41 was good for a fifth-place finish. Rounding out the top-10 placements for BU was junior Matthew Oluwole, who finished eighth in the high jump with a distance of 6-4.

“That was great,” Thompson said. “ I mean [Cardascia] ran really well, he’s right on track for where he needs to be.”

Junior Alyssa Armitage, who finished fourth overall in the pole vault, continued the Bearcats’ streak of setting records this weekend. She captured a distance of 13-3.5, tying the current school record, which she set last year at the AE Indoor Championships.

“[Armitage] jumped really well, tying her school record,” Thompson said. “She almost made the next height, which I think was 13 feet 7 1/2 inches, so again, for the middle of the indoor season she’s exactly where we would like to see her. She’s doing really well.”

The women also saw success in several events, such as the 60 hurdles, where graduate student Jenna Chan took home fourth with a distance of 8.47. In the 5,000m, senior Jennifer Mui finished fifth with a time of 17:19.75. Senior Lucciana Robertson also took home a fifth-place finish in the high jump with a distance of 5-7.25. Rounding out Binghamton’s top-10 finishes was junior Sydney Leitner in the 3,000m, whose time of 9:51.36 earned her an eighth-place finish.

“I’m comfortable with where our upperclassmen are,” Thompson said. “I feel that our younger athletes, especially the freshmen, it would be nice to see some people step up and do better to try to make a difference … But I think there are a lot of people who are capable of more and hopefully in the next couple of weeks, they’ll step up and be ready to help us at the conference meet.”

The Bearcats will head back to Penn State to compete at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge on Saturday, Feb. 8. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Multi-Sport Facility and Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track in University Park, Pennsylvania.

“It was great,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “It just shows that the training is working and that people are in good shape and we’re on track to do well in a month from now at the conference meet.”

Spearheading the Bearcats’ performance was graduate student Jenna Chan, who was named the women’s Most Outstanding Track Performer. Chan placed first in both the long jump with a distance of 18-3.75 and the 60 hurdles with a distance of 8.47. In all three meets this year, Chan has captured gold in the 60 hurdles. Chan’s performance on Saturday made her the second straight Binghamton student to take the title of women’s Most Outstanding Track Performer at Bucknell.

“[Chan] had a great meet and really she just kind of continued with the progress that she’s made this year so far,” Thompson said. “It was exciting but it wasn’t a huge surprise.”

Along with Chan, six other Bearcat women finished first in their respective categories. Junior Alyssa Armitage captured the gold in the pole vault with a distance of 12-5.50. Graduate student Gianna Hoose took home first in her category, the weight throw, with a distance of 59-3. The final first-place finish in the field events came from senior Lucciana Robertson in the high jump with a distance of 5-4.5. Coming in first in the mile, 200m and 3,000m were senior Jennifer Mui, sophomore Tatum Norris, and freshman Anna Gansrow with times of 5:06.09, 25.62 and 10:07.34, respectively.

“[Armitage’s] pole vault was good — she’s jumped higher than that, but she, even though she didn’t jump as high as she’s capable of jumping, she made good progress toward the future by getting on a bigger pole that she’s ever jumped on,” Thompson said. “And [Gansrow] in the 3000, that was a great race for her as a freshman.”

On the men’s side, Binghamton took home three first-place finishes. Junior Matthew Oluwole brought back the gold in the high jump with a distance of 6-6.75 The men also captured first in their 200m and 3,000m races courtesy of graduate student Marcus Johnson in the 200m with a time of 22.11 and freshman Nick Thomas in the 3,000m with a time of 8:31.08.

“I thought that [Johnson’s] 200, and actually all the guys in the 200, ran very well,” Thompson said.

The men’s side also saw the Bearcats take several top-five finishes in their respective categories. Junior Andrew Rosenblatt finished second in the mile with a time of 4:16.16. Two Bearcats captured bronze in their categories — sophomore Putu Sutayasa in the long jump with a distance of 22-11.25, and graduate student Oliver Madariaga in the 200 with a time of 22.35. Four Bearcats finished in fourth in their competitions, and two more finished in fifth. Overall, it was a successful weekend for Binghamton in its first meet with team scoring. The Bearcats will look to build on their performances as they continue their 2024-25 campaign.

“I feel really good,” Thompson said. “I think they’re in a great spot. We still have several meets before the conference meet and I look forward to seeing how they do the next month.”

The Bearcats will head to Penn State to compete at the National Open from Friday, Jan. 31 to Saturday, Feb. 1. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Multi-Sport Facility and Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track in University Park, Pennsylvania.

“It was the first time at NCAA Regionals for all three, so it was a learning experience more than anything,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “They all return next in 2025, and the next time they go I suspect they will be ready to compete at an even higher level than they did this year.”

Luciano was the first Bearcat to compete in the meet. Coming off of a bronze medal finish at the America East Championships with a throw of 191-00, Luciano punched his ticket to Lexington as the 28th seed in the region. The Bearcat placed 29th overall in the qualifier, failing to meet the top 12 cutline for nationals although he did improve on his AE toss with a throw of 200-11.

“[Luciano’s] second throw was a foul, and probably would’ve been the big one he was hoping for had it been a legal throw,” Thompson said.
Next up was Johnson, off the back of his top performance of the year at the AE Championships with a gold medal-winning time of 50.87. Seeded 25th in the region, Johnson too fell in line with his seeding, clocking in a time of 51.76 to finish 5th out of six runners in his heat and leaving him out of the finals of the event.

“[Johnson] was a little shaky on his rhythm over the hurdles, but it was still his second-best time ever,” Thompson said. “It was nice to see him get a good result, despite being a little bit off.”

The last BU representative to compete at the event was Stone in the 10,000-meter event, who captured first place at the AE championship with a timecard of 14:22.58 in the men’s 5,000-meter race. Stone left Lexington with a 41st-place overall finish, clocking in at 31:02.32 to miss out on nationals.

“[Stone] was not feeling his best, unfortunately, and it’s hard to run six-plus miles if you aren’t feeling good,” Thompson said. “He still did a nice job of toughing it out, and doing the best that he could with the situation.”

Although the program finished with no national qualifiers, the NCAA East Region Meet did still cap off a strong outdoor campaign for the Bearcats. The team captured six individual titles and clocked in 13 all-conference performances at the AE Championship meet, while numerous long-standing program records were broken.

“The men’s team is in an excellent place right now, with strong leadership and talent throughout all of the events,” Thompson said. “We lost some of the greatest leaders and overachievers the women’s team has ever had over the last two years, so now it is up to the younger athletes to take a step up, not only as competitors on the track, but as leaders off the track as well.”

“[We were] in less than ideal conditions, in wet conditions and not being where you think you’re going to break [school] records and yet they still did,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson.

In her first outdoor conference meet as Binghamton’s No. 1 steeplechase option, junior Jennifer Mui delivered a gold medal performance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on day one with a time of 10:52.04. This was the fifth straight victory for the Bearcats in this event, with former All-American honorable mention Aziza Chigatayeva winning the title four times from 2019-2023. Mui’s efforts headlined a strong first day for the Bearcat women, which concluded with two additional podium performances. In the pole vault, freshman Tatum Norris put in a career-best height of 12-1.5 to finish second overall while sophomore Sydney Leitner brought home her second straight bronze medal in the 10,000-meter race with a time of 36:09.94.

“[Mui] was the top seed going in and she basically ran the race that she normally runs and and won,” Thompson said. “She was the best one there and she ran like she was the best one there and won pretty comfortably. So it was a nice performance for [Mui].”

Over on the men’s side, redshirt freshman Brian Luciano continued his strong rookie campaign by securing the bronze with a 191-00 in the hammer throw. The Bearcat men also punched in two all-conference efforts apiece in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the long jump. Graduate student Marty Dolan led the way in the 3,000 steeplechase for Binghamton with a time of 9:11.92 to place fourth, and behind him in seventh with a 9:28.96 was sophomore Andrew Rosenblatt. Meanwhile, finishing back-to-back in the long jump with respective placements of fifth and sixth were freshman Putu Sutayasa with a distance of 22-9 and fifth-year Marcrene Jeannot with a distance of 22-8.5.

“[Luciano] is gonna be consistent, and he always performs well in the toughest competition,” Thompson said. “He’s an excellent competitor, in addition to being a very talented thrower, so I wasn’t really surprised. I’m sure he wanted to place higher but [out of] the three guys that placed in the top three, all three of them were capable of winning and they’re very close.”

Heading into day two, the Bearcat women continued to turn in strong performances with five more podium finishes. Putting in gold medal efforts were senior Penelope Paldino in the heptathlon with a score of 4,334 points and graduate student Sophia Ryan in the 1,500 with a time of 4:32.16. In the high jump, junior Lucciana Robertson captured silver with a height of 5-5.75, while Norris returned third and fourth place efforts in the 100 and 200 with respective times of 12.13 and 24.88. The final podium effort came in the relays, with the quartet of Norris, sophomore Angie Mesa-Espinosa and graduate students Sophia Morone and Gabby Hyatt breaking the school record in the 4×100 with a time of 46.09 for the silver medal. When the final results were tallied, Binghamton had finished second overall as a team on the women’s side for the second consecutive year.

“Every time the women’s team has gotten second in the past, they have done so not being expected to get second,” Thompson said. “This was the first time going into the meet that they were the team that was expected to get second, and it’s a different type of pressure. It’s a lot easier to be the team that’s chasing somebody than it is to be the team that’s being chased.”

Meanwhile, the Bearcat men peppered in three more gold medal performances to secure sixth place overall as a team. These efforts were headlined by a school record-breaking performance in the 400 hurdles courtesy of senior Marcus Johnson, taking gold with a time of 50.87. Over in the distance events, senior Josh Stone captured first in the 5,000 by clocking in a 14:22.58 while sophomore Matthew Oluwole’s leap of 6-08 was good for gold in the high jump. The final broken school record on the weekend came from the team of senior Taiki Hirooka, freshman Nathaniel David, sophomore Samson Joseph and junior Joey Cardascia in their respective 4×100 meter race with a time of 41.31 to place second.

“[Oluwole] winning the high jump was huge,” Thompson said. “He was seated eleventh going into the meet … Not a single thought that he was going to win that high jump, but the runway was wet and I think that other jumpers were a little nervous about that. And he responded by having two PRs in the same competition and winning.”

With AE action wrapped up, the Bearcats now set their sights on the ECAC/IC4A championships this coming weekend. First event is set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 11 at the George Mason Stadium in Fairfax County, Virginia.

“Overall, I feel like the team is really coming together and we’re in great shape going into the [America East (AE)] conference meet,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson.

On Thursday, two Bearcats traveled to compete in the Penn Relays. Facing an impressive field of competition, redshirt freshman Brian Luciano captured silver in the men’s hammer throw with a distance of 200-9. Senior Gianna Hoose also competed at the meet, finishing 14th in the women’s hammer throw with a distance of 159-5.

“[Luciano’s] season has been really good and with consistency comes big performances,” Thompson said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the really big performance that he still has in him because he has been very consistent.”

On Friday, the Bearcats headed to Jacksonville, Florida, where they competed in the East Coast Relays through Saturday. On the men’s side, senior Marcus Johnson finished seventh in the 400m hurdles and crossed the line in 52.42. Then, in the 4x400m relay, BU took fifth with a time of 3:12.62 from senior Oliver Madariaga and junior Joey Cardascia, as well as sophomore Samson Joseph and Johnson. On the women’s side, in the 4x100m relays, Binghamton finished 13th with a time of 46.36 from graduate students Gabby Hyatt and Sophia Morone, sophomore Angie Mesa-Espinosa and freshman Tatum Norris.

“That was a good time for [men’s 4x400m relay team],” Thompson said. “I think they can run a couple of seconds faster but it was great to see them run really well. They’re in great shape, right now.”

On Sunday, BU competed at the Big Red Invitational, where several Bearcats recorded podium finishes. Three Bearcats took home gold medals — junior Lucciana Robertson won the high jump with a distance of 5-7 1/4 and freshman Vicky Mordvinova won the 800m with a time of 2:16.55. On the men’s side, freshman Nate David won the men’s 200m with a time of 22.14.

“I was really happy with how everyone performed at Cornell today,” Thompson said. “I was especially happy with my women in the long jump. The potential that they have showed up today and I’m looking forward to seeing them take it to an even higher level at the conference meeting this coming weekend.”

On the men’s side, two Bearcats rounded the top three of the 200m, as senior Taiki Hirooka and sophomore Kevin Smith finished second and third in the race with times of 22.15 and 22.90. The Bearcats struggled in the 110m hurdles and the 100m. In the 110m hurdles Freshmen Angelo Confort and Christian Primavera, finished seventh and eighth out of eight with distances of 15.11 and 15.62. Next, in the 100m, three Bearcats finished back-to-back in sixth, seventh, and eighth place in an eight-man race. This was done by David, Hirooka and Smith who recorded 10.86, 10.92 and 11.09 times respectively.

“I was really happy with the sprinters on the men’s side,” Thompson said. “I thought they continued what has been really solid season for them.”

On the women’s side, in the 4×100, Binghamton’s relay team of seniors Penelope Paldino, Jessica Faustin, Caroline Fatta and Emily Gorczynski finished second. Next, Hoose captured the bronze medal in the discus throw with a distance of 128-5. Hoose also placed fifth in the hammer throw with a distance of 161-5. In the 100m freshmen Kaylen Tenemille and Ashlyn Rattray finished fourth and fifth with times of 12.32 and 12.43. In the shot put was freshman Deborah Estabine, who finished fifth with a distance of 40-6 ¾. Junior Jessica Prentice finished fifth in the 400m with a time of 59.80 and then third in the 200m with 25.41. In the 200m freshman Kaya Duran placed fourth with a time of 25.65 and Rattray placed fifth with 26.02.

“I’m happy with everyone, at this point there’s really nothing to work on,” Thompson said. “All the work has been done in the previous nine months and it’s just a matter of having a nice easy week of training and going into the conference meet feeling refreshed and ready to go.”

The Bearcats are set to compete in the AE Championships starting on Saturday, May 4. First event is set for 10 a.m. at UMBC stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.

Over the weekend, the Binghamton track and field teams competed in the Virginia Challenge and the Bucknell Team Challenge and, despite no team scoring in Virginia, the women’s team captured a second place finish while the men’s team finished fourth at Bucknell. Overall, the Bearcats earned five first-place finishes.

“I thought it was a great meet,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “It’s nice to see people starting to really perform well as we get a couple weeks from the conference meet, which is our ultimate goal, so I was very happy with how they did.”

At the Bucknell Team Challenge, Binghamton captured five first-place finishes. Redshirt freshman Brian Luciano captured the gold in the hammer throw with a distance of 209-2 — breaking his own school record. Junior Lucciana Robertson in the high jump with a leap of 5-4.5. Graduate students Gabby Hyatt and Sophia Morone, sophomore Angie Mesa-Espinosa and freshman Tatum Norris in the 4×100 race. Senior Jenna Chan continued her success in the 100 hurdles with a distance of 13.69 and graduate student Mark Scanlon in the 800m race.

“[Luciano] in the hammer throw was another huge throw for him,” Thompson said. “He’s really firing on all cylinders right now. The women’s 4×100 ran very well. They’re really close to breaking the school record so it would not surprise me to see that happen at the conference meet in a couple of weeks. The hurdles went really well, and the hurdlers are running great.

On the men’s side, freshman Jose Iraola-Ceely finished fourth in the hammer throw with a distance of 166-2. In the high jump, sophomore Matthew Oluwole finished fifth with a leap of 6-2. Then in the 3000m steeplechase, sophomore Andrew Rosenblatt captured a bronze medal with a time of 9:29.12. Two Bearcats finished back-to-back in the 100m hurdles, earning second and third — graduate student Adrian Rippstein, with a time of 14.84 and freshman Angelo Confort, with a time of 14.85. Junior Oliver Madariaga had a time of 48.57 in the 400m, good enough for second. Sophomore Samson Joseph also had a second-place finish in the 100m with a time of 10.64. Lastly, In the long jump was freshman Putu Sutayasa, who finished third with a distance of 23-3.5.

“I thought the sprinters did very well,” Thompson said. “[Sutayasa] in the men’s long jump, that was, he had two jumps over 23 feet which was huge for him, he’s been consistent all year but he hadn’t hit a big jump yet so it was exciting to see him do that.”

On the women’s side, other notable finishes included Norris, who also competed in the pole vault, finishing third with a distance of 11-5.75. In the hammer throw, senior Gianna Hoose captured the silver medal with a distance of 167-8. Additionally, BU secured second, third, fourth and fifth place in the 100m race. Junior Zoe Rose took third in the 800m race with a time of 2:17.59. Finishing second In the 400m hurdles was senior Penelope Paldino, who crossed the line in 1:05.09. Finally, fifth-year Kyra Guerci competed in the 5000m and captured third with a time of 18:18.37.

“The sprinters and hurdlers have had a really good year as a whole, the group as a whole,” Thompson said. “I feel like Bucknell was about as good as any of the meets we’ve had so far, so that was nice to see.”

Facing an incredible field of competition at the Virginia Challenge, senior Josh Stone’s performance highlighted the meet for BU as he finished fourth in the 10,000m race with a time of 28:54.10 — breaking his own school record.

“That was a huge run for [Stone] — breaking 29 minutes,” Thompson said. “That mark should get him into the regional championships at the end of May which I know is a goal of his.”

The Bearcats will split into two groups to compete at the Penn Relays and East Coast Relays, respectively, from Friday, April 26 to Saturday, April 27. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Binghamton track and field teams competed at the Bucknell Outdoor Challenge over the weekend and despite no team scoring, the Bearcats recorded eight podium finishes and two program records were set.

“I though the meet went well overall,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “There were a lot of solid performances across the throwers, sprinters, hurdlers [and] jumpers. It was a solid meet.”

The highlights of the weekend for the Bearcats included performances from senior Jenna Chan and redshirt freshman Brian Luciano. Chan won the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.66, setting a new school record. Redshirt freshman Brian Luciano took second place in the hammer throw with a distance of 208-1, setting not just a new freshman record but a Binghamton program record as well.

“Overall, [Luciano] was the highlight for sure,” Thompson said. “It was a huge throw for him and [for Chan], that was a great run for her as well, especially this early in the season. So those two were probably the top performances.”

On the men’s side, other top performers at the meet included senior Marcus Johnson, who placed second in the 400 hurdles, clocking in a time of 52.34. In addition, junior Joey Cardascia captured third place in the 400m race, finishing in 47.64. Lastly, in the 3000 steeplechase event, graduate student Marty Dolan finished in a time of 9:20.54, good enough for seventh place.

“Marcus was running really well,” Thompson said. “He’s very close to the school record in the four hurdles, and I know he wants to get that. So he was he was actually a little disappointed that he didn’t get the record, even though it was his personal best time. But yeah, he’s running fantastic. When he came [to Binghamton] he was kind of a 400 hurdler first, but he ended up being a better jumper in the short term, but now the 400 hurdles is really sharp and quick for him. So it’s nice to see that happening.”

On the women’s side, Binghamton recorded four second-place finishes. Junior Lucciana Robertson earned silver in the high jump with a leap of 5-5.75. Additionally, the 4×100 relay team of graduate students Gabby Hyatt and Sophia Morone along with sophomore Angie Mesa-Espinosa, and freshman Tatum Norris earned second place with a time of 46.48. Junior Hillary Abankwa was the runner-up in the 400m and senior Gianna Hoose placed second in the hammer throw with a distance of 165-11.

“It was a good day for [Robertson],” Thompson said. “It wasn’t probably what she wanted. But it was just another solid meet. She’s been very consistent this entire year. I also know that she wants to not only be consistent but hit a big jump so I told her ‘when you’re consistent that’s when the big jumps come.’ It’s a testament to how good she is that she can have an average day and still finish second. [Hoose] has been consistent this year. It’s great to see that and that was [Abankwa’s] personal best time. That’s the fastest she’s ever run. So she was very excited to get that time.”

Thompson believes that consistency is ultimately key as the team continues to prepare for the AE conference meet coming up in just a few weeks.

“We’re preparing for the [AE] meet,” Thompson said. “We’re only we’re taking a very small group in Virginia next week, and most of the team is going to Bucknell for a smaller meet. The meet in Virginia, we’re hoping that a few people can get some regional qualifying mark … Then everyone else is going Bucknell. It’s also looking for personal bests and big performances, but we’re just preparing for the conference meet in a few weeks, just continuing to improve and sharpen up as we get closer to that meet.”

Next weekend, Binghamton will send a small group to the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Virginia while the rest of the Bearcats will head back to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania to compete at Bucknell Team Challenge. First event for both meets will start at 10 a.m.

This weekend, the Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Delaware and Virginia to compete at the William and Mary’s Colonial Relays and Delaware Invitational. At the Colonial Relays, the women’s teams placed first and sixth while the men’s team finished eighth overall. Then, at the Delaware Invitational, four Bearcats finished in the top five.

“It was a great weekend overall for all of our event groups, throwers, distance runners, sprinters [and] hurlers,” said Binghamton head Coach Mike Thompson. “Everybody had a nice solid weekend.”

At the Colonial Relays, the top performers on the women’s side included senior Jenna Chan who competed in the 100 hurdles and won with a time of 13.88 seconds. In addition, sophomore Alyssa Armitage captured first place in pole vault with a height of 12-10.5. Fellow sophomore Sydney Leitner took second place in the 10k race with a time of 35:18.06.

The Bearcat’s hot streak continued during the 1600 sprint medley. The group of graduate student Gabby Hyatt, graduate student Sophia Morone, junior Hillary Abankwa and freshman Vicky Mordvinova placed first, finishing with a time of 4:06.22.

“On the women’s side of the Colonial Relays, [Leitner] shattered the school record in the 10k,” Thompson said. “She ran really well. [Chan] ran a really solid early season race in the hurdles.”

The men’s team found similar success as well at the Colonial Relays. Senior Marcus Johnson took first place in two events after clocking in a time of 52.76 in the 400 hurdles and a leap of 47-0 in the triple jump. Freshman Liam Cody finished first in the 1500 with a time of 3.58.17, 67 milliseconds faster than the second-place finisher. Finally, junior Joey Cardascia ran the clock in a time of 47.95 in the 400, good enough for third place.

“On the men’s side, [Johnson stood out] for sure for hurdles,” Thompson said. “That’s one of the best times of all time for us. [Johnson is] looking great. Honestly, I think he might be able to get the school record later this year. He also did well in the triple job. Got first in the triple jump.”

While competing at the Delaware Invitational, some new Binghamton records were set. During the hammer throw, redshirt freshman Brian Luciano set a new record for the second-longest throw for a freshman in program history at 188-4.5. Luciano also holds the title for the first longest throw for a freshman with a throw of 196-6, which he set at the Raleigh Relays last week.

“[Luciano’s] ultimate goal was to make it to the regional championship,” Thompson said. “He’ll need to throw a little bit further than his best to do that. But it was just another opportunity for him to throw, and I think it was a solid performance for him.”

Additionally, on the men’s side at the Delaware Invitational, freshman Jose Iraola-Ceely finished third with a throw of 161-2.5. For the women’s team, senior Gianna Hoose secured second place in the hammer throw with a throw of 165-1 and junior Erin Waters finished fifth with a throw of 152-4.5

“The Bucknell meet is just another means toward our goal of doing well at the conference meet,” Thompson said. “So I think we’re right on track. I think all of the event groups are starting to come together. So we have about a month before the conference meet. We just look to improve each weekend leading into that.”

The Bearcats will return to compete at the Bucknell Outdoor Challenge starting on Saturday, April 13. First event is set for 10 a.m. at the Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium Track in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Earlier this week, the Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the America East (AE) indoor track and field championships in Boston, Massachusetts. Over the span of two days, several Bearcats earned numerous first place results and all-conference honors en route to a second place overall finish for the women and a third place result for the men over the nine team field.

“The expectation was that everybody would compete as well and as hard as they could,” Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson said. “If you do that, then things tend to just take care of themselves, and that absolutely happened. On the women’s side, especially, it was one of the greatest meets we’ve ever had. They so outperformed where they were seeded coming in that it was really impressive.”

The first day of action saw commanding performances in the field events from BU. Leaping into the AE record books was sophomore Alyssa Armitage, whose distance of 13-3.5 in the women’s pole vault shattered the meet record and secured her first career AE gold medal. The men’s pole vault also saw a Bearcat on the top of the pylon — senior Brandon Love secured his first career indoor AE gold and second overall with a height of 15-9. Lastly, locking down first and second place in the weight throw were redshirt freshman Brian Luciano and junior Jaston Ormsby with respective throws of 67-10.25 and 63-4, with Luciano’s result breaking the school record for the fourth time this season.

“Huge throws by the throwers [Luciano] and [Ormsby],” Thompson said. “The pole vaulters did well — [Armitage], of course,”

On the track side of day one, the quartet of freshman Vicky Mordvinova, juniors Jessica Prentice and Zoe Rose and graduate student Sophia Ryan stood on top of the podium in the women’s distance medley relay with a time of 11:47.26. The most memorable moment of the meet, however, came from senior Josh Stone. Competing in the 5,000m race, Stone mounted a late comeback on the home stretch to narrowly beat his Maine adversary at the line by one hundredth of a second to secure his first career track crown with a final time of 14:38.19. When day one’s scores were tallied, both the men and women sat in first place on the leaderboards.

“To win a 5,000m race by one hundredth of a second is very exciting,” Thompson said. “It could have gone either way and it worked in [Stone’s] favor. That was definitely one of the highlights of the whole meet not just because he won, but because it was so dramatic. It just makes great entertainment, honestly.”

On day two, freshman Brynn Hogan, junior Jennifer Mui, Rose and Ryan netted gold — earning the top result in the 4×800 relay, clocking in a time of 9:14.42. Relay gold was also secured on the men’s side of the action, with senior Marcus Johnson, sophomore Samson Joseph and juniors Oliver Madariaga and Joey Cardascia clocking in at 3:13.66 to nab first in the 4×400 relay. The final Binghamton victory of the meet came in the women’s 500m race — courtesy of junior Hillary Abankwa, whose time of 1:13.62 was good enough to secure Abankwa her first career AE individual crown. Day two was also characterized by the depth of the Bearcats, with a total of 10 additional podium placements secured on the day across both sides.

“Everybody stepped up,” Thompson said. “We had great performances in the hurdles, in the sprints, in the jumps, in the throws [and] in the distance events. We take pride in having a complete track team. Not just a lot of sprinters or a lot of distance people, but we cover every event group and they all stepped up.”

By the end of the meet, both of Binghamton’s squads found themselves on the overall podium with the women in second with 134 points and the men in third with 119.50 points. For their efforts, several Bearcats earned awards — Armitage was named most outstanding women’s field athlete, Luciano earned men’s most outstanding rookie honors and, in recognition of both her academic and athletic achievements, Rose secured the women’s elite 18 award. Lastly, for the first time in a decade Thompson and his staff was awarded women’s coaching staff of the year.

“With coaching awards, it just means that your team performed really well,” Thompson said. “That’s the exciting thing about that. So it’s nice to get the award, but it’s really just a testament to how well the team performed as a whole.”

The Bearcats are set to return to Boston next weekend to compete in the ECAC/IC4A Championships, stemming from Friday, March 1 to Sunday, March 3. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams had a full weekend of competition as athletes were scattered across the East Coast to compete in three different events. Throughout Friday and Saturday, the Bearcats competed in the Millrose Games, the Big Apple Invite and the Fierce Valentine’s Invite respectively. Even though there was no team scoring, several Bearcats etched records into the Binghamton program history book.

“We had a lot of really good performances this weekend at all three meets so I was very happy with how it went,” said head coach Mike Thompson.

On Friday, redshirt freshman Brian Luciano and junior Jaston Ormsby competed at the Millrose Games. During the weight throw invitational, Luciano took third overall with 65-9 ¾ with Ormsby trailing close behind in fifth after getting 60-4 ½.

“They just wanted to go there because it’s the Millrose Games, so it’s a cool meet and a good opportunity for them,” Thompson said.

Then on Saturday at the Big Apple Invitational, Luciano and Ormsby grabbed the top spots on the podium in weight throwing. The redshirt freshman placed first with a throw of 63-2 while the junior took second with a distance of 61-2. More victories for Binghamton at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex include senior Jenna Chan finishing first in the women’s 60 hurdles with a time of 8.48 and junior Zoe Rose placing first with a time of 5:07.47 in the women’s mile.

Meanwhile, in the highly competitive Valentine’s Invitational at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center, the Bearcats excelled in several events over this two-day competition. BU houses one of the largest indoor meets in the country which attracts a myriad of NCAA programs as well as several professional runners.

“The people that went to Boston were our top distance runners and long sprinters, and we sent them to Boston because that’s the fastest track you can run on indoors, probably the fastest track in the country,” Thompson said. “Anything 200 meters and longer, is a good chance of getting fast times there.”

On Friday, graduate student Sophia Ryan finished 84th out of 318 runners during the women’s mile run. After clocking in a time of 4:49.56, Ryan’s achievement ranked her second all-time in Binghamton’s program history. Then, freshman Vicky Mordvinova made history when she broke the Binghamton freshman record while running in the women’s 1000m. She bested the 16-year-old record after garnering a time of 2:58.57 and trumped the previous record holder Kim Law’s time of 2:58.80 set in 2008.

“She ran great,” Thompson said. “She was very good in high school, and she’s starting to get back in shape. She missed some training time early in the season. It’s nice to see her have a really good run in. I think she will just keep getting better throughout the rest of the indoor season but especially through the outdoor season.”

While competing at Boston on Saturday, Senior Josh Stone made his mark on Binghamton’s athletic records as he won the men’s 5000m race in the fifth heat with a time of 13:55.84. During his endeavors, Stone ran the second-fastest time in Binghamton program history with the current first-place time standing at 13:36.23. Overall, the senior placed 60th out of 125 runners in the event.

“That was a fantastic race for [Stone],” Thompson said. “It was exciting to see that unfold.”

The Bearcats placed seventh out of 43 other teams during the men’s 4×400 relay. The squad consisted of senior Marcus Johnson, sophomore Samson Joseph and juniors Oliver Madariaga and Joey Cardascia. Their relay time was 3:13.72 which ranks as eighth all-time in Binghamton program history.

“The next meet is the conference meet so hopefully everyone will be well rested and sharp and excited and ready to go,” Thompson said.

The Bearcats will finish out the indoor season at the America East (AE) Indoor Championships which run from Monday, Feb. 19 to Tuesday, Feb. 20. First event is set for 10 a.m. at the Track at New Balance in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the Sykes & Sabock Challenge in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Despite no team scoring, several Bearcats finished in the top 10 of their respective events with redshirt freshman Brian Luciano, senior Jenna Chan and graduate student Mark Scanlon breaking Binghamton records in their respective events.

“Yeah, we’re definitely in a good place, and today was a really solid day across the board,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “We had good jumpers, good sprinters, good hurdlers, good distance people, good throwers, lot of [personal records], couple school records — a few school records actually.”

Eleven Bearcat men placed in the top 10 of their respective events — with three finishing in first. Luciano finished first in the weight throw with a distance of 66-1.75, breaking his previous school record of 65-5. Junior Joey Cardascia captured a first-place finish in the 500m with a time of 1:03.55, and Scanlon finished first in the 600m with a time of 1:20.02, also breaking the school record of 1:20.56 set back in 2014. Capturing a silver medal was freshman Liam Cody in 600m with a time of 1:23.64.

Senior Brandon Love finished third in the pole vault with a distance of 4.78. In the men’s mile, senior Josh Stone clocked in a time of 4:07.99, secured him a third-place finish. Two runners also finished in fourth in their respective events — junior Jaston Ormsby in the weight throw with a distance of 61-5.5 and sophomore Samson Joseph in the 200m with a time of 22.03. Binghamton also finished in fourth in the men’s 4x400m race with a team composed of junior Oliver Madariaga, Joseph, freshman Logan Hayes and Cardascia — finishing with a time of 3:16.88. Finally, graduate student Ryan Guerci finished sixth in the men’s mile with a time of 4:10.97 and graduate student Adrian Rippstein finished seventh in hurdles with a distance of 8.48.

“Well, the school records were [Luciano] in the weight throw, [Scanlon] in the 600 and [Chan] in the 60 hurdles,” Thompson said. “So yeah, they obviously, they had fantastic days.”

On the women’s side, the Bearcats captured several top-10 finishes. Chan finished first in hurdles with a distance of 8.46, breaking her previous school record of 8.49. Also competing in the 60m hurdles was freshman Dami Modupe, who finished fourth with a distance of 8.66. Junior Lucciana Robertson competed in the high jump, capturing a silver medal with a distance of 1.70.

In the 500m race, junior Hillary Abankwa finished in fifth with a time of 1:13.68. Also capturing a fifth-place finish was Binghamton as a team in the 4×400. Competing for the Bearcats were graduate student Sophia Morone, sophomore Angie Mesa-Espinosa, freshman Kaya Duran and Abankwa. Finally, Duran also competed in the 500m, finishing seventh with a time of 1:16.44.

“[Robertson] in the high jump had a season-best, and I think ties for second best jump all time,” Thompson said. “[Stone] had a great mile, [Ormsby] also had a big PR in the weight throw finishing I believe finishing third, [Modupe] ran a big season best in the 60 hurdles. There were a lot of season bests in PR, so it was good across the board.”

Leaving Penn State with several gold, silver and bronze medals and with one weekend of meets remaining before the America East (AE) conference championships, each meet will help BU prepare in hopes of bringing home a win at the conference championships.

“I think it’s all starting to come together,” said Thompson. “We have one meet now before the conference meet, and I think we’re in a perfect place.”

Binghamton will now compete in two separate meets at Boston University and at the Big Apple Invitational. Each invitational will run from Friday to Saturday, with the first meet at Boston University starting on Friday, Feb. 9. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Boston University Track and Field Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge — finishing ninth and 14th respectively. In a field featuring 26 teams, several Bearcats finished in the top 10 of their respective events.

“I feel like we’re just on a logical path toward being ready to go at the conference meet in a few weeks,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “So, I think everybody is right where they should be.”

Sophomore Alyssa Armitage tied the women’s school record in the pole vault, recording a distance of 12-9.5 feet and placing third in the event. Sophomore Angie Mesa-Espinosa took sixth place in the 60 meter event with a time of 7.83. Also finishing in the top 10 in the 60 meters was freshman Dami Modupe with a time of 7.86 — good enough for eighth place. Graduate students Gabby Hyatt and Sophia Morone also finished in the top 10 with times of 7.89 and 7.90 respectively.

In addition, junior Hillary Abankwa finished fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 56.32. Freshman Alexa Colondona finished in fourth in the Pentathlon 60 meter hurdles with a distance of 9.14 and sophomore Logan Wheeler finished in 10th in the same event with a distance of 9.67. In the Pentathlon high jump, Wheeler also placed second with a distance of 1.58m. The women finished the two-day event tied for 14th overall with a score of 11.

“I think [Armitage] in the pole vault, she had a great day [and senior Brandon Love] also had a very good meet in the pole vault,” Thompson said. “The 400 runners’ men and women did very well — you know, long spears — also in the 200 and 400, [the] runners [did] very well across the board.”

On the men’s side, senior Marcus Johnson competed in the triple jump and placed second with a distance of 48-10.25. In the pole vault, Love placed third with a mark of 16-0.75. Also finishing in third was redshirt freshman Brian Luciano in the weight throw with a distance of 64-11.5 feet. In addition, senior Josh Stone competed in the 3,000 with a time of 8:12.87 and placed seventh. Junior Oliver Madariaga competed in two events and finished in the top 10 in both. Madariaga finished fourth in the 200 with a time of 22.04 and sixth in the 400 with a time of 49.29.

“[Johnson] particularly had a really good meet with his best triple jump in two years and his best 400 in two years, so, he really stood out as well,” Thompson said. “I thought overall it was a pretty solid meet.”

Sophomore Samson Joseph finished eighth in the 200 with a time of 22.16, and junior Joey Cardascia placed 10th with a time of 22.28. Cardascia also placed eighth in the 400 with a time of 49.36, with Johnson behind him in 10th with a time of 49.71. The men finished in ninth overall with a cumulative score of 27.

“Basically, what we do is we build up the training from the first week of practice when we come back through about this upcoming week, and then we’ll start gradually backing off,” Thompson said. “So, that when they get to the conference meet, they’ll not be as tired, and we’ll train a little bit less and with the goal of them feeling better and more recovered when we compete at conference.”

Binghamton will now set its sights on the Sykes and Sabock Challenge, which begins on Saturday, Feb. 3. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Penn State Ashenfelter Track in University Park, Pennsylvania.

The Binghamton men and women’s track and field teams began the new year at the Gulden Invitational in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Saturday, where the women finished second out of seven teams while the men earned a third place result out of six teams. Leading the way for BU was graduate student Sophia Ryan, who named the Women’s Most Outstanding Performer of the meet, with several other Bearcats finishing in the top five in their events.

“It was nice getting back at it,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “Competing is more fun than training, of course, so think they were excited to get back as well.”

Ryan finished first in the 1000 meter race with a time of 2:48.31, in her first track and field meet for Binghamton. With this time Ryan broke not only the school record of 2:49.83 set by Alexis Hatcher in 2015, but she broke the Bucknell facility record as well. Along with Ryan’s individual success, the Bearcats posted two other individual winners on the women’s side. Senior Jenna Chan took first in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.58, and sophomore Alyssa Armitage was first in the pole vault with a height of 12-7.5.

“It was really exciting for everybody,” Thompson said. “Everybody was cheering [Ryan] on. She ran a really strong race, and she was excited as well. You know I think that she looks at it as just a step you know toward bigger things but the whole thing was very exciting.”

In addition to three first-place finishes for the women, the Bearcat women earned five silver medal placements. In the field, junior Lucciana Robertson in the high jump with a height of 5-4.5, senior Gianna Hoose was the runner-up in the weight throw with a distance of 50-3.5 and freshman Tatum Norris in the pole vault with a height of 11-7.75. On the track, graduate student Sophia Morone finished with a time of 25.61 in the 200 and junior Jennifer Mui clocked in a time of 5:12.19 in the mile. The success didn’t stop there — eight Bearcats finished their respective events in the top five, and as a team, the Bearcats finished in second, right behind Bucknell, the host of the meet.

“[Redshirt freshman Brian Luciano] in the weight [throw had] a big throw,” Thompson said. “[Armitage] in the pole vault — she had a great day as well. But I think anybody who won an event, they performed very well because it was a fairly competitive meet.”

On the men’s side, three Bearcats finished in first. Luciano won the weight throw with a throw of 65-5, and graduate student Mark Scanlon took the mile with a time of 4:16.40. Lastly, junior Joey Cardascia punched in a time of 49.59 captured first in the 400. Adding silver medals to Binghamton’s effort were sophomore Samson Joseph in the 400 with a timesheet of 49.94 and senior Brandon Love in the pole vault with a height of 15-3.

“Then the 400 [meter race] with [Samson] and [Cardascia] getting first and second… they were basically running [well],” Thompson said. “It was just the two of them because they were far ahead of everybody else and that was a very exciting race as well.”

Between the men and women, 12 runners placed within the top 10. Freshman Angelo Confort and graduate student Nick Malfitano placed sixth and seventh in the 60 hurdles with times of 8.58 and 8.60, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 finishes was freshman Alexa Colondona in the 60 hurdles with a time of 9.12, good enough for eighth. Binghamton has five meets left before the America East (AE) Championships, and each meet will continue to prepare them.

“Our focus is always the conference meet, so we just are preparing for that,” Thompson said. “Every weekend we put athletes in events to prepare them for that meet which is, I think Feb. 19 and 20 in Boston, so that that’s kind of the main objective is just train and compete in such a way that we’re ready to go in about a month.”

Binghamton’s next competition will be the Dr. Sander Invitational, which begins on Friday, Jan. 26. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Armory in New York, New York.

The Binghamton track and field teams opened their season at the Cornell Greg Page Relays and the Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Ithaca, New York and Boston, Massachusetts respectively over the weekend. Despite no team scoring at either meet, the Bearcats earned some strong individual performances.

“They performed very well,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “The preparation is three months leading up into that first meet, so everybody is always fired up and ready to compete after three months of just training,”

At Cornell, the redshirt freshman Brian Luciano won the weight throw with a distance of 63-7.5, breaking his previous school record of 59-10.5 feet, which he set at last year’s Cornell Greg Page Relays meet. In addition, junior Jaston Ormsby captured a third-place finish in the weight throw, setting a personal record with a distance of 59-0.75.

“It was great,” Thompson said. “I kind of expected [Luciano] to do that, but it was fantastic to see him open up with the best throw of his life … last year, he redshirted indoors and outdoors … I’m happy to have him back. I’m happy to have him throwing for us now.”

On the women’s side, senior Gianna Hoose also recorded a podium finish at Cornell, placing third in the weight throw, registering a distance of 52-3.25. Also, senior Penelope Paldino competed for the first time in the pentathlon, clocking a time of 9.21 in the 60-meter hurdles, which was good enough for second place. Paladino also placed fourth in the 800-meter race, capturing a time of 2:46.03. Another notable performance was that of sophomore Logan Wheeler, who finished tied for third in the high jump.

“For [Paldino], it was her first time ever doing the pentathlon,” Thompson said. “So it was really just a chance for her to do one and see what it’s all about … [Paldino] was very excited about it and she has a lot of potential, so we’re looking forward to seeing how she does.”

In Boston, senior Josh Stone clocked in a time of 14:07.80 in the 5,000-meter race. Despite finishing in 117th place, his time ranks second all-time in Binghamton program history, breaking his previous record of 14:10.30 which was set last year. Graduate student Ryan Guerci also competed in the race but ultimately did not cross the finish line.

“It was impressive,” Thompson said. “[In Stone’s] case based on where he was in cross country, it was great to see him have a strong race right out of the gate so I’m looking forward to seeing how he does next semester.”

Other competitors included graduate student Marty Dolan, who competed in the unseeded 5,000-meter race. He finished in 40th place with a time of 14:52.96.

“I think that was just a solid opener to the season for [Dolan],” Thompson said. “It wasn’t anything more or less than that, it was just a race to get him geared back toward track and field.”

Binghamton’s next competition will be the Seahawk Shootout, which begins on Friday, Dec. 8. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Ocean Breeze Park Track and Field Athletic Complex in Staten Island, New York.

On Friday, the Binghamton men’s and women’s cross country teams wrapped up their season by competing at the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet. Out of 37 competing teams, the men netted a 19th-place finish while the women placed 21st. Without a runner qualifying for nationals, the cross-country season has concluded.

“You get to the end of the season and some kids are a little bit more tired coming off of the conference meet,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “It’s always kind of a mixed bag of results at regionals every year, but overall, my goal was to be at least around that top 20 mark.”

To close out his five-year career as a Bearcat, fifth-year Ryan Guerci led the timesheet for the Bearcat men for the first time this season. Guerci punched in a time of 30:51.1 in the men’s 10k to earn a 71st-place result out of 257 runners. Meanwhile, after running in the top 40 for most of the race, senior Josh Stone faded back to 77th at the line as he battled through illness to clock in a 30:58.9.

“[Stone] had an off day, but he had a little bit of illness going on,” Acuff said. “So, unfortunately, it was just bad timing for him. [Guerci] got out and was pretty aggressive, but he kind of fell off just a little bit in the last mile, and I think that’s just [because] he’s used to racing more 8ks than that 10k distance. But I thought in the guys’ race, we competed a lot better, and we executed even a little bit better at regionals than at the conference meet.”

Other competitors in the field included graduate student Marty Dolan who placed 104th with a time of 31:25.8. Freshman Tim Smith, one of two freshman runners selected for the trip to the Bronx, crossed the line with a time of 32.01.1 in his Northeast Regional Meet debut to finish in 146th. Rounding out the men’s top five for BU was graduate student Andrew Harrell, whose time of 32:34.5 was good enough for a 172nd-place finish.

In her final cross county race for BU, graduate student Sophia Ryan led the way for the Bearcat women with the best individual result for BU at the meet — 41st out of 264 women’s 6k competitors with a time of 20:50.0. Also inside the top 100 for the Bearcat women was sophomore Sydney Leitner, clocking in a time of 21:31.8 to reach the finish line in 94th.

“Believe it or not, it’s kind of hard to believe, but both [Leitner] and [Ryan] ran faster this year than last year, even though with their places you wouldn’t really think it,” Acuff said. “Last year the conditions weren’t as good, so I think that had a little bit to do with it, but for different reasons, they didn’t place as high this year as what they did last year. But they certainly contributed a lot to our success this year … without either one of them we certainly wouldn’t have won the conference championship.”

Also contributing to Binghamton’s 21st place finish on the women’s side was junior Jennifer Mui, with a time of 22:23.3, as she collected 153rd place. Graduate student Sheridan Talada brought home a time of 22:36.7 to secure a finish of 165th while crossing the line in 173rd by punching in a time of 22:48.9 was graduate student Kyra Guerci.

“The women were a little off of what we did at conference,” Acuff said. “At conference, we had a spectacular day and we had so many kids run well on the same day. That’s what it takes to win championships and those days are rare when you can just kind of get everyone really well on the same day, especially freshmen. The women had a solid day but it wasn’t as strong as what we put together at conference.”

The cross-country teams finish their season with five all-conference runners and for the first time in 10 years, an AE Championship. Women’s cross country secured their first conference title off the backs of all-conference performances from Ryan, Leitner and freshman Brynn Hogan, while Stone and Guerci repeated all-conference honors on the men’s side. With the indoor track and field season around the corner, Acuff reflected on a healthy cross-country campaign.

“With having three seasons, especially for freshmen, you try to find a way to balance them out and keep them healthy,” Acuff said. “We did a really good job of that. I think if we did anything right this year, we kept our kids healthy. I’m super proud of that.”

“We’re super proud of [Chigatayeva] making the national meet,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “She’s had an outstanding career … all of her accolades certainly show that she’s been super consistently competitive for us over the past five years … we could not be more proud.”

On Thursday evening, Chigatayeva competed in the semifinals of the 3000 steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, looking to capture a spot in the finals. She ran in the second of two 12-runner heats with the top five runners in each heat and the next two fastest times qualifying for the finals on Saturday. Chigatayeva earned an 11th-place finish in her heat with a time of 10:22.86, which earned her 22nd place overall.

“[Chigatayeva’s] strategy going in was just to stay as close as she could to the top seven, top eight,” Acuff said. “We knew her heat was going to be pretty fast … unfortunately she just didn’t have her best day. She didn’t feel great.”

With her 22nd place finish overall, Chigatayeva did not qualify for the finals, but she ultimately received an All-American honorable mention honor to conclude her decorated career at Binghamton. Chigatayeva is the third female Binghamton track and field athlete to earn All-American honors at the Division I level. Past Binghamton All-Americans include Emily Mackay and Keishorea Armstrong, who each received numerous All-American designations.

“She’s got a bright future ahead of her,” Acuff said. “As a coach, I’m really going to miss her leadership … she’s been a lot of fun and she’s got a great sense of humor, so I’ll miss that a lot.”

Despite not making the final, Chigatayeva expressed her pride in the way she ended her career and was grateful about having the opportunity to run her final race on a national stage at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

“Getting to the national meet is the hardest part,” Chigatayeva said. “So just getting there is a pretty big achievement … it’s an indescribable experience. It [was] just an honor to be participating and competing in such an elite field.”

Chigatayeva concludes her track and field career as a four-time NCAA East Region Meet qualifier and a four-time America East (AE) champion in the 3000 steeplechase. Additionally, she captured five individual AE track and field titles in the span of her entire Binghamton career.

“There’s a lot of pressure, but pressure is a privilege,” Chigatayeva said. “I’m pretty impressed with how well I’ve done throughout the years and how consistent I’ve stayed, despite all of the things that I had going on.”

Chigatayeva also highlighted the abundance of support she has received throughout her career at Binghamton, from the coaching staff to her teammates.

“[I’m really going to miss] the community,” Chigatayeva said. “There’s just so much support. A lot of the people that I’m graduating with this year, I’ve known since my freshman year, and we’ve gone through kind of all of college together and grown up so I’m definitely going to miss that … I’m going to miss the staff, all the coaches, the trainers and my teammates.”

With Chigatayeva’s Binghamton career coming to an end, she mentioned that she would continue to run competitively and push her limits, knowing that she would always have her support system at Binghamton University.

“I’m going to be working full time, and I’m still going to compete, and I’m still going to run,” Chigatayeva said. “I’m going to give it a few more years as long as I can manage it because I still think that there’s a lot of potential.”

“We’re all super proud of Aziza and her accomplishments over the past five years but certainly being able to finish at the national meet at the end of her career is an amazing accomplishment for her and our program,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “The consistency is just incredibly impressive.”

On Saturday afternoon, Chigatayeva competed in the 3000 steeplechase at the NCAA East Region Meet for the fourth consecutive outdoor season. Chigatayeva managed to place third in her heat and ninth overall with a time of 10:02:11. The top three finishers in each of the three, 16 runner heats and the next three fastest times all qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. As a result, Chigatayeca automatically qualified for a bid at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, finishing third in her heat, after she bested Duke’s senior Emily Cole.

“The division one level is so competitive,” Acuff said. “I think it just requires a certain level of commitment and investment from athletes both mentally and physically and doing all the little things that it takes.”

This was Chigatayeva’s first career qualification in her fourth attempt. Chigagateva previously failed to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in her past three outdoor seasons, with overall placements of 42nd in 2019, 23rd in 2021 and 16th in 2022.

“The stage was set for her, and I think it became a very realistic possibility [to make it to the NCAA championships] and she just made the commitment with her training and mentally to try and get there,” Acuff said. “[Chigatayeva] is by far the most consistently competitive athlete that we’ve ever had.”

After earning a spot in the NCAA Championships, Chigatayeva has become the third Binghamton female athlete to qualify. Prior Bearcats who have qualified for the NCAA championships include Keishorea Armstrong and Emily Mackay. However, Chigatayeva will be the first Binghamton athlete to compete in the 3000 steeplechase.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll compete to the best of her ability, so I think she’ll have a good shot of making that final,” Acuff said. “She’s just a fantastic competitor and she’ll leave everything on the track. She’s gonna give it her best shot.”

On the men’s side, senior Marcrene Jeannot qualified for the NCAA East Region Meet for the first time in his career, after capturing gold in the America East (AE) indoor and outdoor triple jump events. He is the second Binghamton men’s triple jumper to qualify for the meet in the past three seasons. Ultimately, Jeannot finished 31st in the men’s triple jump on Friday evening with a distance of 49-7. With only the top 12 overall distances advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Jeannot failed to qualify.

Chigatayeva will compete in the NCAA Outdoor Championships which begin on Wednesday, June 7 and conclude on Saturday, June 10. The meet will be hosted by UT Austin at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.

“I thought it was a good finish to the season and a good finish to a couple of careers for people on the team,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson.

After kicking off the meet on Friday with just one Bearcat competing, the men’s side of the action on Saturday included Binghamton’s only first-place finish during the competition. Senior Matt Cavaliere took gold in the men’s 1500 by almost three-tenths of a second with a time of 3:43.71. Just missing out on the podium in his event was senior Marty Dolan, placing fourth in the 3000 steeplechase with a time of 9:02.73. Meanwhile, junior Brandon Love earned eighth place in the men’s pole vault with a height of 16-0.

“[Cavaliere] had a great race, and it was a great finish to a great season for him,” Thompson said. “For [Dolan] it was his best race of the season. So it was nice to see [Dolan] get close to where he was at the end of last year, which was a very good season [for him] last year.”

On the women’s side, in her final race as a Bearcat, graduate student Stephanie Cassens captured a bronze finish in the 800 with a time of 2:08.87. Also scoring points for the Bearcats on Saturday was sophomore Lucciana Robertson, who finished tied for fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5-4.25 and freshman Alyssa Armitage, who placed sixth in the women’s pole vault with a height of 12-4.75.

“That was the last race of [Cassens’] collegiate career,” Thompson said. “So, it was nice to see her run another solid race. She has always been the model of consistency and that race just reinforced that … I mean, that’s this kind of [Cassens] in a nutshell. She just runs consistently well.”

At the end of day one of the competition, the men’s team found themselves in seventh place while the women’s team was locked in a tie for 14th.

On Sunday, the men’s side earned another medal placement as sophomore Joey Cardascia secured a third place in the 400, clocking a time of 47.07. In addition, during the Bearcats’ only relay event of the meet, junior Taiki Hirooka, freshman Samson Joseph, Love and Cavaliere earned a seventh-place finish in the men’s 4×100 meter relay with a final time of 41.60. When things were said and done, the men finished in a tie for ninth place overall.

“Well, third was great, but the time was almost a second faster than [Cardascia has] ever run,” Thompson said. “So it was a fantastic performance for him, a breakthrough performance, and [I’m] really excited to see how he does next year.”

Only one Bearcat competed on the women’s side during day three of the meet. With a toss of 140-03 feet, junior Gianna Hoose placed 10th out of 20 competitors in the discus throw. After the meet came to a conclusion, the women finished tied for 22nd place overall.

The Bearcats are slated to compete in the NCAA East Regional from May 24 to May 27 at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.

“It was a fantastic meet,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “I was really pleased because it didn’t come as easily this outdoor meet, as it did indoors, where we had a similar goal. Outdoors, there were challenges, there were people coming down to third attempts in the jumping events and just getting it done.”

The winners on day one included graduate student Casey Gribben who took the gold in the pole vault, marking his first career outdoor title, with a height of 15-11. Not far behind him was junior Brandon Love who captured second place with a height of 15-5. Meanwhile, in the 3,000 steeplechase senior Marty Dolan captured third place with a time of 9:06:60. Other top finishers included graduate student Jake Restivo and senior Marcrene Jeannot who finished third and fourth in the long jump with distances of 23-10.75 and 23-6, respectively.

“That was great for [Gribben] … to get a personal best and a win,” Thompson said. “It was a perfect way for him to go out. I was really proud of him and happy for him.”

On the women’s side, redshirt senior Aziza Chigatayeva secured her fourth straight AE title in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 11:00:42. Binghamton also managed to take second, third and fourth place in the event. Senior Carolyn Burnell, sophomore Jennifer Mui and graduate student Elisabeth Van Tassell swept those positions with times of 11:15:38, 11:19:04 and 11:26:02, respectively. Additionally, freshman Alyssa Armitage managed to take home silver in the pole vault, with a height of 11-7.75 while freshman Sydney Leitner placed third in the 10,000 with a time of 37.09.73.

“[Chigatayeva]’s performance in the steeplechase was great but really more impressive was the fact that we finished first, second, third and fourth in the steeplechase,” Thompson said. “The other three girls ran phenomenally well … and that was a huge one as far as the team score win.”

When the first day of the competition finished, the women’s team found themselves in first place overall while the men’s team held down second.

On Sunday, senior Matthew Cavaliere secured the gold in the men’s 1500 with a time of 3:52:19 while Jeannot took first place in the men’s triple jump with a leap of 50-8.75. The men’s team had two other podium finishers Sunday — senior Nick Malfitano managed a second place finish in the decathlon with a score of 6,199 and sophomore Joey Cardascia finished third in the 400, clocking in at 47.49.

“I think the team [had] a great performance this weekend,” Jeannot said. “We had a lot of guys that stepped up to the plate. A lot of people that finished higher than they projected. Overall we came with a great attitude and great team culture and I think we did really well this weekend. I’m really happy about [my performance] … I had a couple bumps in the road with injuries but I’m really happy about it.”

After winning the 60 hurdles at the AE Indoor Championships in February, junior Jenna Chan secured the outdoor title in the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.67. Sophomore Lucciana Robertson also earned the gold in the high jump with a leap of 5-5.75. Finally, graduate student Stephanie Cassens obtained a second-place finish in the 800 with a time of 2:10:87 along with Chigatayeva, who secured a second palace finish in the 1,500, clocking in at 4:24:39.

“A lot of things were going through my head going into this that race,” Chan said. “I don’t personally feel my best, but I really just relied on my training and it got me all the way to the finish line … it was the best finish I could have asked for. It feels really good. It’s been a long time coming … I couldn’t have asked for a better outdoor season.”

The Binghamton coaching staff was also named the women’s coaching staff of the year, after the conclusion of the meet, marking the first time it has won the award since 2013.

“That was really cool,” Thomoson said. “None of us really expected it at all. It’s always nice when you get those things, but it’s really just a testament to the team and how well they did and how hard they competed this weekend.”

Binghamton will compete again in the ECAC/IC4A Championships starting on Saturday, May 13. The first event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in Fairfax, Virginia.

“The Penn Relays is a fun event to compete at more than anything,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “Usually, when the weather’s nicer, there’ll be a lot of people in the stands, and it’s a lot of races and that makes it fun. This past weekend, it was pretty wet and cool, so there weren’t as many people there. But you know, as far as a two-day meet goes, nothing different really.”

The top performing Bearcats were the men’s 4×400 relay squad, composed of senior Nick Malfitano, sophomore Joey Cardascia, junior Taiki Hirooka and freshman Samson Joseph, who took home gold in the Eastern Section final on Saturday. In their qualifying heats on Friday, they ran a 3:22.54 to win their heat and qualified in fourth overall despite poor weather conditions.

“It was miserable,” Thompson said. “I mean, every team that ran, ran well below their best for the year. Nobody ran even close to what they were capable of running, including us. So it was good that they had great attitudes and they still competed hard and they made the finals.”

Running in the late afternoon on Saturday, Binghamton found itself in fifth place heading into the final leg of their relay final. However, a 47.85 time clocked in by Cardascia boosted the Bearcats up four positions and into first place, as the quartet crossed the finish line with a final time of 3:16.23 and a .28 second margin of victory over second place. The quartet’s victory made program history as it is the first time BU has won a title at the Penn Relays.

Also making it to their final rounds on Saturday were the women’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams. The women’s 4×100 raced their way into a finals appearance on Friday through a top-two finish in their qualifying heat, with a final time of 47.15. While the 4×400 squad finished just outside of the top two in their heat, they managed to qualify as one of the next five fastest teams with their time of 3:52.41, besting America East (AE) opposition UMBC and NJIT in the process.

The Bearcats continued to make history, as the 4×400 relay squad managed a seventh-place finish out of nine teams. In the college section, they finished with a time of 3:47.21. This pace gives the squad — featuring seniors Serena Gay and Sophia Morone, graduate student Stephanie Cassens and sophomore Hillary Abankwa — the fifth-best 4×400 time in program history. The 4×100 relayers, meanwhile, ran a 47.33 to finish in ninth place out of nine teams in their final.

“Well, the 400×1 relay ran an okay time for them,” Thompson said. “I think they had one hand off that was maybe a little bit off, but the 400×4 they ran extremely well. That was our best time of the season and they’re in great shape going into the [American East Conference Meet].”

The only relay team to not qualify for Saturday’s final contests was the men’s 4×100 squad, who came just .69 seconds short of qualifying on pace after failing to secure victory in their heat Friday. Also competing on Friday in the pole vault was freshman Alyssa Armitage, who finished in a tie for 16th place with a leap of 11-5 feet, and junior Brandon Love, whose leap of 15 feet landed him in ninth place.

Binghamton now set its sights on the AE conference championships, scheduled to take place from Saturday, May 6 to Sunday, May 7 at the University of Albany Track and Field Complex in Albany, New York.

“They did a pretty good job of competing, despite tough conditions,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “Overall I thought it was a good step toward the conference meet next weekend.”

BU sent six athletes to the Cavalier Challenge in Virginia where Chigatayeva came away with a first-place finish in the 3000 steeplechase invite event. The Bearcat clocked in a time of 10:07.78, slightly slower than her program record-breaking performance at the Raleigh Relays last month.

“It was another solid race for [Chigatayeva],” Thompson said. “She was running by herself for most of the race, so she wasn’t really challenged and consequently the time wasn’t her best, but it was still a really solid time. There aren’t many people in the entire country that can challenge her, so it’s hard to find a meet where she isn’t the best one, but I think it sets her up really well for the rest of the season.”

Junior Jenna Chan was the only other Bearcat at the meet to register a top-10 finish. Chan competed in the 100 hurdles and placed 10th with a time of 13.88, good for second all-time in Binghamton history.

At Bucknell, graduate student Spencer Thomas was the only first-place finisher, earning the win in the discus throw with a toss of 155-1.00 feet. Sophomore Robert Menocal also competed in the discus and placed third with a 151-1.00 foot throw. Additionally, sophomore Jaston Ormsby came in second in the hammer throw with a 180-7.00 foot throw. On the women’s side, junior Gianna Hoose secured fourth place in both the discus and hammer throw events with tosses of 127-7.00 feet and 151-6.00 feet, respectively.

“The throwers are doing really well, the men and the women,” Thompson said. “So I think they’re just continuing to perform like they have for most of the year.”

Binghamton turned in a plethora of podium finishes at Bucknell. Senior Nick Malfitano and junior Marcus Johnson turned in a pair of second-place runs in the 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles, respectively. Malfitano registered a time of 15.03 and Johnson came in at 55.65. Senior Nick DeFelice placed third in the 3000 steeplechase, clocking in at 9:32.52. Moreover, both freshman Samson Joseph and junior Taiki Hirooka earned bronze in their respective events. Joseph crossed the line in 49.57 and Hirooka finished in 22.27.

On the women’s side, the top finisher of the meet was sophomore Zoe Rose in the 1500 event. The Bearcat secured a second-place finish with a time of 4:41.15. Freshman Angie Mesa-Espinosa followed Rose up with a third-place time of 12.57 in the 100-meter event. Fellow freshman Alyssa Armitage earned second in the pole vault with an 11-11.75 foot leap.

“We pride ourselves on having a balanced team,” Thompson said. “A team that has athletes in all the events, and this week showed that for sure.”

When the final scores were timed and tallied, the Bearcat men earned third place overall out of nine teams competing at Bucknell. Now heading into the championship portion of the season, Binghamton will adjust its approach in training over the next few weeks.

“Training for us this time of the year is more about getting sharp, maybe a little less volume,” Thompson said. “Just allowing the athletes to recover a little bit so they can be at their best at the conference meet … The intensity stays up, but the volume drops. That allows them to feel, recover and get more fresh as they compete in the championship season.

BU will return to action next weekend at the Penn Relays starting on Friday, April 28. Events will take place all day Friday and Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“I thought the sprinters especially did well,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “But the throwers and the few of the jumpers did pretty well too, so it was a good all-around meet.”

After winning the America East (AE) indoor title for the 60 hurdles in February, junior Jenna Chan captured the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.03 seconds. Other notable finishes on the women’s side were graduate student Stephanie Cassens who placed fifth in the 800, clocking in at 2:09.10 and redshirt senior Aziza Chigatayeva who secured sixth in the 1500 crossing the finish line at 4:18.59.

“[Chan] ran that race into a headwind which slows you down quite a bit,” Thompson said. “So to run the time that she did, despite being slowed down by the wind, was great. It was an exceptional race. If she had run the same race with a slight tailwind, it probably would have been a [personal record] by two or three-tenths of a second.”

The women’s 4×100 relay team, consisting of seniors Sophia Morone and Gabby Hyatt, freshman Angie Mesa-Espinosa and Chan placed sixth with a time of 47.04 to cap off a solid run-in from the Bearcat women.

“It was a good performance by [Morone, Hyatt, Mesa-Espinosa and Chan], not their best,” Thompson said. “They ran a pretty conservative race. It was fine, but they will run faster later in the season.”

On the men’s end, junior Brandon Love placed second in the pole vault with a measure of 16-0.75 feet. Love was one of the two podium finishers on the men’s side. Joining him was senior Marcrene Jeannot in the triple jump, earning a third place finish with a leap of 49-1 feet.

“That’s probably the best I’ve ever seen [Love] jump,” Thompson said. “He looked great, I thought he was going to jump higher, but if he keeps trending the way he is trending, he’s ready for a big jump.”

In addition, freshman Austin Wefer placed fifth in the 3000 with a time of 8:42.56 and sophomore Joey Cardascia captured sixth in the 400 crossing the line in 47.84 seconds. Cardascia’s time was good enough for second all-time in Binghamton track and field program history, trailing only Cazal Arnett’s time of 46.34 during the 2009 season.

“For [Jeannot] that was a really solid jump,” Thompson said. “It wasn’t far off from his personal best, and he looked pretty good. I think he’ll jump a lot further in the next couple of weeks.”

Binghamton competes again from Friday, April 21 through Saturday, April 22 at the Cavalier Challenge hosted by UVA. First event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m at Lannigan Field in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Chigatayeva ran a school record 9:58.02 in the steeplechase, around eight seconds faster than the previous school record of 10:06.77 which was also set by Chigatayeva. This was good enough to finish third at the Raleigh Relays in the event and third overall in the East Region rankings. The top 48 performances in the steeplechase will qualify for the NCAA East Regional meet hosted by the University of North Florida from May 24-27.

“The 9:58 puts [Chigatayeva] in a really good spot for the NCAA East Regional Meet,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “That time should definitely hold for all of qualifying for that meet at the end of May. That was really the big goal, to get a good time for the regional meet to kickstart the outdoor season. She’s in fantastic shape. She’s in the best shape of her life no doubt and has worked really, really hard to get to this level.”

Coach Acuff believes this strong start will allow Chigatayeva to focus more on training in order to prepare for the Regional meet later this season in May.

“This puts her in a really good place,” Acuff said. ”I think it takes the pressure off of her. I think that was the goal too — we wanted to reach the Regional qualifier mark early. Now she can spend more time training, and we’re not chasing the time or performance to make sure she makes regionals. I’m confident that her time will hold for regionals. She’s not competing now for a few weeks until we go to Bucknell, and then she’ll compete in a competitive 1,500-meter race there, and again at the steeplechase in Virginia.”

Despite running in rainy and windy conditions in Pennsylvania, the men’s and women’s teams competing in the Leopard Invitational were able to combine for a total of 12 individual wins and one relay crown.

“I thought that everyone coped with the weather well,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “Attitudes were good. [The weather] really sucked. It was about as bad as it could’ve been without cancelling the meet, so I was really happy with everyone’s attitude despite the conditions. It was absolutely miserable, and I was really proud of how all the individual winners and just people in general did considering the conditions.”

The Bearcats continued their dominance in the 3,000 steeplechase, sweeping the event on the men’s and the women’s sides. Senior Marty Dolan took first in the men’s race with a time of 9:39.40 while senior Carolyn Burnell won the women’s race with a time of 11:41.86.

Other winners in the men’s races included senior Ryan Guerci in the 1,500 (4:04.87), senior Adrian Rippstein in the 110 hurdles (17.01), senior Mark Scanlon in the 400 (50.93), freshman Samson Joseph in the 100 (11.22), junior Brandon Love in the pole vault (15-8.25) and senior Matthew Cavaliere in the 800 (1:55.51).

On the women’s side, first-place winners included freshman Sydney Leitner in the 1,500 (4:55.90), senior Cecilia Maillet in the long jump (17-4.25) and sophomore Zoe Rose in the 400 (1:04.10). The women’s team also won a relay thanks to the 4×100 team of senior Gabby Hyatt, freshman Angie Mesa-Espinosa, senior Sophia Morone and junior Jenna Chan who registered a time of 50.40.

“The throwers will be at Towson, and the weather looks like it’s going to be good down there,” Thompson said. “Hopefully we’ll see some personal bests and some big throws. The same with William and Mary. It’s going to be really warm down there. The biggest challenge at William Mary is going to be competing in the exact opposite conditions that we had at Lafayette, competing in weather that is much warmer than the weather we see throughout the entire outdoor season. It will be really nice to be in some warm weather with some really good competition as well.”

The Bearcats will continue their outdoor season with two meets next weekend. Some of the team will travel to Williamsburg, Virginia for the Colonial Relays from Friday, March 31 to Saturday, April 1 while the other half of the team will travel to Towson, Maryland for the Towson Invitational during the same days.

“Overall it was a decent weekend,” wrote Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “[Chigatayeva] was the standout performance for sure. She ran great. And we had a lot of solid performances, but we put everything into the conference meet and sometimes it is hard to follow that up.”

BU started its competition on day two of the meet. Sophomore Jaston Ormsby followed up his performance at the AE Championships with a toss of 52-07.50 feet in the weight throw, placing 15th. Graduate student Jake Restivo placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 23-00.00 feet.

On the women’s side, graduate student Juliana Tobin participated in the weight throw, tossing 51-00.00 feet, and sophomore Lucciana Robertson placed sixth in the high jump with a 5-05.00 foot leap. After winning the pole vault at the AEs, freshman Alyssa Armitage earned a tied second-place finish in the pole vault at 12-00.00 feet. Furthermore, junior Jenna Chan qualified for the 60-meter hurdles finals with back-to-back times of 8.59 and 8.57 seconds in the prelims and semis, respectively.

“[Chan] has had an excellent season,” Thompson wrote. “Her final today wasn’t her best race, but we couldn’t be happier with the way she has run all year.”

The Bearcats had continued success in both the men’s and women’s 5Ks. Junior Josh Stone earned a fifth-place finish, clocking in at 14:10.30, while freshman Sydney Leitner followed Stone’s performance in the women’s 5K, crossing the finish line in fifth place as well at 17:05.60.

“[Stone] and [Leitner] ran well, just as they have all indoor season and during cross country,” Thompson wrote. “I’m looking forward to seeing them continue to improve outdoors.”

On Sunday, the final day of competition, junior Brandon Love placed sixth in the pole vault with a final measure of 15-07.00 feet. Graduate student Casey Gribben also participated in this event with a leap of 15-01.00 feet. After winning the conference title two weeks ago, Chan competed in the 60-meter hurdles finals and placed seventh, clocking in at 8.68 seconds.

“The vaulters have had a great year as well,” Thompson wrote. “[Armitage] and [Love] were a little off today, and yet still found ways to place in the meet. If they can get their technical skills to match their competitive intensity, they could become exceptional jumpers in the future.”

Highlighting the weekend was Chigatayeva earning gold in the 3000 meter with a program record, breaking the previous time with a 9:18.08 performance. Senior Carolyn Burnell competed in the same event and placed 20th, crossing the finish line at 9:56.68.

“[Chigatayeva] ran a perfect race,” Thompson wrote. “I think she could’ve run a little faster had the race gone out a little faster, but she looked strong and won with ease. It’s great to see her running the way she is right now.”

Binghamton ends its indoor season with the highlight coming from third place finishes for both the men and women’s teams at the AE conference championships. BU will now shift its focus over to the outdoor season starting in three weeks.

“The team gets a little break from competition the next few weeks,” Thompson wrote. “We will focus on training during this time. Then we get back into competition in late March, and do it all over again!”

The Bearcats are scheduled to kick off their spring competition at the Raleigh Relays from Friday, March 24 to Saturday, March 25 at the Paul Derr Track Facility in Raleigh, North Carolina.