It was the race of the freshmen this weekend as the Binghamton cross country teams traveled down to Bethlehem, Pa. to participate in the Lehigh Paul Short Run. Over 40 teams participated in the prominent race, and both the men’s and women’s teams were again led by their freshmen stars.

Freshman Gerald McDonald highlighted an impressive outing by the men’s team on the 8,000-meter course as he finished 84th out of the field of 270 and had a time of 25:43, leading the Bearcats to a 24th place finish out of 41 teams, a big step up from their 35th place finish last year. Fellow freshman Andrew Ugolino crossed the finish line in 123rd place in 26:04.

‘This was a vast improvement from last year’s race here,’ said head coach Annette Acuff.

The women’s team, which placed 22nd out of 47 teams, was led for the second consecutive race by freshman Ashley Horton covering the 6,000-meter course in 22:05 and finishing 67th out of the 317 runners. Renee Blair, another freshman followed Horton finishing 132nd with a time of 22:54. And star runner junior Katie Radzik made her return from injury placing 150th.

‘Katie is still trying to work her way back from injury,’ Acuff said, regarding Radzik’s uncharacteristic finish. ‘But the women’s program is much more competitive this year. She is still contributing.’

Radzik’s road bump will not stop her from adding to the team, and even if the injury still has lingering effects, Acuff has high expectations nonetheless.

‘I expect her to still finish in the top 5 this season,’ Acuff said.

The meet represented Binghamton’s continued progression as a quality cross country program. The men’s team improved this year 11 places from last year even without star runner Chris Gaube, who is still out with an injury. The women improved on an impressive 25th place finish last year even with Radzik still on the mend.

‘We can thank a great recruiting season,’ Acuff said. ‘We brought in talented freshmen who are running well.’

Top regional teams such as Villanova and Princeton, who grabbed the men’s and women’s titles respectively, highlighted the prestigious event that attracts teams from all over the Northeast.

Even Texas Tech attended the race, placing third and 13th in the women’s and men’s races respectively. Their very own Sally Kipyego captured the women’s individual title with a time of 19:59.

‘We like to go to a race and run under pressure. We want to expose them to a high caliber atmosphere early in the season to prepare for the NCAA Regional and Conference race at the end of the season,’ Acuff said. ‘There were a lot of high-ranked teams here and we were happy to finish in the middle of such a great race.’

Binghamton will be looking for another strong performance on Oct. 13 at the Albany Invitational.