The Binghamton University men’s and women’s cross country teams will be taking a trip to Franklin Park in Boston, Mass. on Saturday to participate in the 2010 America East cross country championship.
The meet is hosted by Boston University. Other schools competing include University at Albany, University of Hartford, University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University, University of Vermont and University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Last year, Binghamton men’s team placed first with an overall time of 2:08:38.20 and an average time of 25:43.64. Binghamton’s Erik van Ingen crossed the finish line first overall (25:18.7) out of 81 runners, followed by teammate Chris Gaube (25:26.10). Four Binghamton runners placed in the top 10, with Casey Quaglia finishing fourth (25:40.80) and Jeff Martinez finishing 10th (26:01.70). Binghamton University was followed by the University of New Hampshire with a total time of 2:10:44.80 and Stony Brook with a total time of 2:12:10.00.
This year, Binghamton has been selected by the America East coaches as the favorite to win once again. The team received a total of six first-place votes and a total of 57 points as it looks to repeat as conference champions. Seven of the eight Binghamton runners who placed in the top 21 at last year’s championship meet are back this season, which means that Binghamton is looking to dominate once again. Returning runners include van Ingen, Gaube, Quaglia, Adam Quinn, Andrew Ugolino and Martinez. With this team, the Bearcats are ranked seventh in the Northeast region. Binghamton, however, is followed closely in the conference poll by Stony Brook University with two first-place votes and 49 points, the University of New Hampshire with 48 points and Boston University with 47 points and the remaining first-place vote. Projected to take fifth place is Albany with 37 points, followed by Maine with 34 points, Vermont with 27 points, UMBC with 17 points and Hartford with eight points.
The Binghamton men’s team will look to take first place again at the upcoming championship meet. Van Ingen has no doubts about his team’s ability to defend its title.
‘We’re feeling confident,’ he said. ‘We’re going to go in there and execute our plan. The fitness is there so it’s just a matter of executing, and if we execute properly it’ll take care of itself.’
The women’s team placed seventh overall at last year’s AE Championship meet with a total time of 1:39:40.30 and an average time of 19:56.06. Stony Brook took first place for the third year in a row with a total time of 1:32:54.80, followed by the University of Maine (1:36:14.40) and the University of Vermont (1:37:16.30). Rachel Miura was the first to cross the finish line for Binghamton, placing 10th with a time of 19:01.80. She was followed by Sarah Veith (19:59.20), Alicia Finger (20:10.20) and Lindsay Raulli (20:12.30), who finished 33rd, 35th and 37th, respectively.
For the third year in a row, Stony Brook has been selected as the preseason favorite to win. They obtained eight first-place votes with a total of 64 points. Following Stony Brook is New Hampshire with 48 points, Maine with 47 points and Boston University with one first-place vote and 44 points. Vermont is projected to take fifth place with 35 points, followed by Albany and Binghamton tied for sixth with 31 points, UMBC with 16 points and Hartford with eight points. Nine of 10 Binghamton runners will be returning from last season. The Bearcats will be looking to improve on their seventh-place finish from last year’s championship meet.
The America East Championship is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday.