A team full of freshmen usually spells a rebuilding season full of development.

Not so for the Binghamton University cross country teams as they continue to show exactly what talented freshmen can do. This weekend both the men’s and women’s teams competed at the NCAA Northeast Regional and achieved more than impressive results.

Ashley Horton led the way for the women’s team as she finished in 58th place in a field of 254 runners with a time of 22:10. Horton has led the team in every race this season as a freshman. D√É©j√Ɇ vu anyone? Her breakout freshman season is taking the same course as male runner Chris Gaube’s amazing run last year, and Katie Radzik’s the season before.

‘For her as a freshman to come that close to the top 50 is amazing,’ said head coach Annette Acuff. ‘I was more than happy to see her shatter my expectations.’

Horton had help in leading the Bearcats to arguably their best finish in program history. The women’s team placed an impressive 16th out of 36 complete teams and over 40 teams overall. Considering that four of Binghamton’s scorers were freshmen, the future looks bright for Bearcats cross country.

‘It was very impressive. The girls ran absolutely to their potential,’ Acuff said. ‘Best race of the season for them. The 16th finish was our best here and puts us close to the top third of the region.’

Freshman Sarah Veith has been instrumental for the Bearcats this season, she ran the 6,000-meter course in 22:54 and placed 109th for Binghamton. Freshmen Shannon Finnegan and Renee Blair were 113th and 118th, respectively, for Binghamton. Radzik rounded out the top five for the Bearcats with a 126th-place finish.

The men’s team has suffered from some unfortunate injuries this season. Gaube, the freshman hero from last season, has not competed all season, along with teammate Adam Hill. To add to the growing list of injuries, freshman phenom Gerald McDonald, who led the team in three races this season, did not suit up for the race and is out for the final race of the season next week. Dealing with injury is nothing new to this team and its freshmen leaders. They responded well, finishing 21st out of 34 teams.

‘The guys ran to their best potential,’ Acuff said of the young team.

They were led by freshman Andrew Ugolino, who traversed the 10,000-meter course in 32:09, finishing 102nd out of 235 runners. Fellow freshman Casey Quaglia was 118th place while junior and veteran Connor Martin stepped up for the Bearcats and finished 120th.

Acuff made sure to point out the difficulties of transition for freshmen from high school to men’s cross country.

‘The guys run 5,000 meters in high school and then they have to run double that here,’ she said. ‘That’s why you don’t see so many freshmen in the top 100,’ she said. ‘Ugolino and Quaglia were among the top 13 freshmen. They both have been great for us this season.’

Iona College and Providence won the men’s and women’s races, respectively. Junior Danette Doetzel of Providence won the women’s individual title with a time of 20:28. Senior Max Smith, also of Providence, won the men’s individual title with a time of 29:58.

The Bearcats look to their final race of the season this weekend at the ECAC/IC4 championship at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The Bearcats will be looking for a good end to a bumpy but satisfying season.

‘We’d like to be in the top three in the university division,’ Acuff said. ‘We will be very competitive and it will be good for our freshmen to have a chance to be competitive.’

‘We’d like to finish the season on a strong note.’