Editor’s note: The Binghamton track and field coaches were not made available to comment on the events that occurred prior to the team’s meet on April 1 in Willamsburg, Virginia.

For the second weekend in a row, the Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams split up, competing in two separate meets this past weekend with the hopes of finding better competition. The distance runners raced at the Bison Outdoor Classic, while the other athletes competed at the Princeton Outdoor Invitational.

The Bearcats’ performance at Bucknell was highlighted by the return of senior Jesse Garn, who finished fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships last spring. In his first race since then, Garn finished 13 in the 1500-meter with a time of 3:48.03, just ahead of junior Eric Holt (3:48.80).

“It was great to see Jesse Garn run again,” said BU head coach Mike Thompson, “Just to see him get back into it.”

Also placing well on the men’s side were senior Adam McIe, who placed third in the 800-meter (1:50.64), and senior Ethan Hausamann, who won the unseeded 1500-meter (3:53.39). On the women’s side, junior Alana MacDonald had the top performance, finishing 14th in the 800-meter (2:13.04) and 40th in the 400-meter (1:01.30). Thompson was impressed with the runners at Bucknell.

“The distance runners definitely ran really well at Bucknell,” Thompson said. “The 800 group all ran well but McIe definitely had the best performance.”

There was no team scoring at the Bucknell meet. At Princeton, the men finished fourth out of nine teams, while the women placed eighth out of nine.

Senior Joe Miceli highlighted Binghamton’s performance at Princeton, winning the pole vault in commanding fashion, jumping over 1 1/2 feet higher than anyone else (17-3/4). This mark makes him only the second Bearcat to vault over 17 feet this year, with the other junior being Peter Fagan.

“Miceli was the best performance for the guys at Princeton,” Thompson said. “All the vaulters at Princeton did pretty well, but Joe did extremely well.”

On the track, junior Jon Alkins finished third in the 100-meter with a time of 10.88. Alkins was also part of the 4×200-meter relay team that finished second (3:17.75) only to Princeton’s relay squad. On the women’s side, junior Sarah Haley was part of a three-way tie for second place in the pole vault, hitting a mark of 11-11 3/4. Senior Tori Shaffer and junior Jackie Crunden tied for fourth in the high jump, both jumping a height of 5-3.

Sophomore Michelle Crook had the top finish among the distance athletes at the Princeton Invitational, running a time of 2:20.73 in the 800-meter, good for a 14th-place finish. Thompson, when reflecting on the meets so far this season, says his team still has room to grow.

“I would like to be better right now, but I think that’s how seasons tend to go,” Thompson said. “In the middle everyone has a little bit of a lull.”

The Bearcats will return to both of these schools next weekend. They will compete Friday in the Larry Ellis Invitational, hosted by Princeton in Princeton, New Jersey and Saturday in the Outdoor Team Challenge, hosted by Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The start times for the meets have yet to be announced.