Editor’s note: The Binghamton track and field coaches declined to comment on the events that took place prior to the team’s meet in Williamsburg, Virginia.
The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in two meets this weekend: the Sam Howell Invitational hosted by Princeton on Friday, and the Cornell April Cabin Fever Indoor Invitational on Saturday. The latter event was originally the Cornell Outdoor Invitational, but the meet was switched to an indoor format due to inclement weather.
Junior Eric Holt and senior Ethan Hausamann competed at Princeton, which was one of the premier distance track meets in the region during the outdoor season. Holt highlighted Binghamton’s performance in the meet, finishing third of 51 competitors in the 800-meter with a time of 1:51.01. Hausamann was 17th of 68 in the 5,000-meter with a time of 14:44.30.
BU head coach Mike Thompson said the decision to have Holt and Hausamann run separately at Princeton was to compete against better competition.
Despite the change of venue at Cornell, the Bearcats’ objectives in their second meet of the season remained the same.
“[The meet] changed from being an actual competition to a bit more of a practice scenario,” Thompson said. “But the goal was still the same: to go and compete as hard as you can and see what you get, see what shape you’re in.”
Due to the change in meet type, the Bearcats competed in a limited schedule of events but still recorded a number of notable performances.
On the women’s side, Binghamton dominated the 300-meter, taking the top four spots. Leading the pack was junior Ana Herbert, who recorded a time of 41.11. Herbert’s race particularly impressed Thompson.
“I thought that Ana Herbert ran really well in the 300 … she was probably the highlight [of the meet],” he said.
Following Herbert were fellow juniors Sarah Osaheni (41.24), Sarah Haley (41.88) and senior Kierra Arthur (42.10).
Also providing a commanding performance was the women’s 4×200-meter relay team of Osaheni, Haley, Arthur and junior Aziza Hawthorne, which defeated the second-place Cornell squad by a full three seconds.
On the men’s side, the Bearcats had the top three finishers in the 600-meter. Sophomore Nate Howe grabbed the top spot with a time of 1:22.22 while senior Adam McIe (1:23.66) and junior Ian Weykamp (1:23.74) followed closely behind.
Other top performances on the track included graduate student Collin Frost’s third-place finish in the 1,500-meter (3:55.69) and sophomore Jarried Redwood’s first-place finish in the 200-meter (23.11). In the field, graduate student Pat Heikklia took first place in the shot put with a throw of 54-08 ¼ feet while senior Joe Miceli took the top spot in the pole vault with a vault of 16-04 ¾ feet.
Although a majority of the Bearcats were not able to get an outdoor meet under their belts this weekend, Thompson feels good about the position of his team.
“We usually are sort of lumbering along this time of year and we really start to look good about a week or two from conferences,” he said. “That has been our trend over the years, so I think we’re in good shape. I would say in general we are where we should be.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams are set to return to action this Saturday. The men are scheduled to compete at the Princeton Team Invitational in Princeton, New Jersey, while the women are set to take part in the the Bison Outdoor Classic in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Starting times for both meets have yet to be announced.