Coming off a second-place finish on the women’s side and third-place finish on the men’s side at the America East (AE) outdoor championships just a week ago, the Binghamton track and field teams headed to Fairfield, Virginia to compete in the ECAC/IC4A outdoor championships. With two podium finishes, including a gold medal, the men’s team finished the meet tied for ninth out of 38 teams, while the women’s squad secured one podium placement and ended the meet tied for 22nd out of 37 teams.

“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.