Who wants to run over three miles in cold rain and strong winds in a Division I conference championship race?

The Binghamton University cross country teams do, and they did it well this weekend, with Katie Radzik leading the way with her fourth place finish as the Bearcats competed in Maine at the America East Cross Country Championship.

Radzik received All-Conference honors for the second year in a row, running a time of 17:27 on the 5000-meter course.

“I thought she ran a great time,” head coach Annette Acuff said. “A top-five finish was a realistic goal for Katie on a consistent day, so I was glad to see her finish fourth.”

The women’s team finished fifth out of nine teams, while the men grabbed the eighth position. Acuff was pleased with both teams’ efforts.

“We had a much better team this year,” she said, referring to the men’s side. “I thought we could have gotten sixth — we were really close but we weren’t able to pull through.”

The women’s team was in contention for fourth place, but in the end struggled to even place fifth.

“I thought a realistic possibility was fourth for the women,” Acuff said. “But we were close to falling to sixth; a lot of people stepped up to the challenge.”

Freshman Kelda Nelson continued to impress both her coach and fans by finishing 20th in the field of 78; she was followed by teammate Jamie Schulte, who grabbed a 29th place finish. Acuff gave Schulte a lot of praise for her efforts.

“She improved a lot from last year. It was a lifetime best performance,” Acuff said of Schulte, who moved up 25 places from last year, despite the field growing in size by five runners.

Chris Gaube was the first Bearcat on the men’s side to cross the finish line, leading the young squad of runners on the 8,000-meter course with a time of 25:53. Afterward, Acuff recognized just how much potential her young team has.

“Our top two guys are freshmen, four of our top five are coming back next year. I am really excited about the next few years,” she said.

Looking ahead to the NCAA Northeast Regional, the Bearcats look to be competitive in the elite race. “I want to improve on last year’s performance. It is a competitive race, with 35 or 40 Division I schools competing,” Acuff said.

Katie Radzik was All-Region last year, and Acuff is expecting more of the same.

“I hope she cracks the top 25 again,” Acuff said of Radzik. All-Region requires a top-25 finish.

The Regional is on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.