On Saturday, Binghamton University men’s and women’s cross country teams took a trip to Hammonasset State Park in Madison, Conn. to participate in the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet. A total of 39 teams competed in the men’s race, along with 35 competing in the women’s.
Syracuse University took first place in the men’s 10K, with a total time of 2:31:00.7, followed by Iona College (2:31:03.9) and Providence College (2:32:45.7) coming in second and third, respectively. Binghamton came in 14th overall with a time of 2:38:38.5, closely trailing University at Albany’s time of 2:38:29.6.
‘To be honest the weekend was anti-climactic and heartbreaking,’ senior Erik van Ingen said. ‘We had a lot of bad breaks, Gaube staggered the last stretch to finish the race, Casey had a sinus infection the entire week, Jeff came down with a stress fracture last week. The past six months we all pushed the envelope and were red-lining, we can all rest our heads on the fact that we left nothing to question, we simply didn’t have the fairy tale ending we were hoping for.’
Junior Leonard Korir from Iona crossed the finish line first with a final time of 29:36.9, followed by Lee Carey from Providence (29:48.5) and Daniel Chenowith from Harvard (29:51.2). Erik van Ingen placed 12th overall with a time of 30:17.1. With this finish, he has qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championship.
‘As for myself, it wasn’t the performance I would have liked, but I got the job done,’ van Ingen said. ‘This meet is a segue to the NCAA Championship, as long as I made it through I can find success, even if it wasn’t pretty. I’m looking forward to the opportunity of running well at the NCAAs. I feel that I’m long overdue for a breakthrough and this would be the perfect meet to do that.’
Graduate student Chris Gaube was second to cross the finish line for Binghamton, placing 57th overall with a time of 31:28.3. Gaube was followed by seniors Adam Quinn and Casey Quaglia with times of 31:31.9 and 32:27.5, respectively, finishing in 65th and 118th overall. Rounding out the top seven Binghamton finishers were senior Andrew Ugolino (32:53.7), graduate student Craig Coon (32:56.2) and sophomore Vasili Papastrat (33:20.3) coming in 145th, 149th and 168th, respectively. Quinn recorded his highest regional finish and Papastrat had the opportunity to gain experience from this meet.
Syracuse took first place overall for the women as well, finishing with a total time of 1:42:56.1. They were followed by Stony Brook, who had a time of 1:41:39.3, and Providence, who had a time of 1:43:06.9. The Bearcats placed 25th overall with a total time of 1:55:10.8. Seniors Lucy Van Dalen and Holly Van Dalen from Stony Brook University took first and second with times of 19:38.4 and 19:42.0. They were followed by Shelby Greany from Providence with a total time of 19:56.4. Sophomore Lindsay Raulli was first to cross the finish line for Binghamton, placing 82nd overall with a time of 21:55.6. Seniors Alicia Finger (23:00.8) and Ashley Horton (23:03.7) crossed the finish for Binghamton next, coming in 150th and 152nd, respectively. Freshmen Caitlin Jelinek and Carly Kiess finished 169th and 200th overall with final times of 23:13.8 and 23:56.9.
The team is set to travel to Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. for the Division I ECAC/IC4A Championship on Nov. 20. Meanwhile, van Ingen will be racing in the NCAA Cross Country Championship on Nov. 22 at Indiana State University.