The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams concluded their indoor seasons at the ECAC/IC4A Championships in Boston this weekend.
The women, who competed in the ECAC Championship, finished 24th out of 44 teams who were scored, while the men finished 19th out of 43 teams.
The women’s team’s performance was highlighted by two school records, as senior Kierra Arthur and junior Alana MacDonald set the fastest times in program history in the 60-meter and 800-meter hurdles, respectively. Arthur broke her record in the preliminaries with a time of 8.67, and went on to finish sixth with a time of 8.75. MacDonald ran a time of 2:12.75 to finish 10th. Seniors Tori Shaffer and Christy DiMichele both finished fourth in their events. Shaffer jumped a 5-7 in the high jump, and DiMichele reached a height of 12-7½ in the pole vault.
BU head coach Mike Thompson was pleased with the women’s performance in their final meet of the indoor season.
“Most people performed at least as well or better than we had hoped,” Thompson said. “Arthur breaking the school record and placing sixth in the hurdles was a really good performance.”
On the men’s side, it was junior Jon Alkins who had the highest finish, placing second in the 200-meter with a 21.32.
Off the track, sophomore Ted Okon finished fourth in the high jump (6-8¼), and sophomore Charles Villa and senior Joe Miceli tied for seventh in the pole vault (15-9).
With its next meet not until April, Binghamton will take full advantage of its time off to recuperate, while already setting its sights on the America East (AE) Outdoor Championships in May.
“I think that one big goal that has changed is to get the women in the top two,” Thompson said. “For the men, I don’t think we have quite enough bodies to beat Albany, but I’d like to see them close that gap.”
At the AE Indoor Championships, the men took second to Albany, 180 to 146. The women finished third, scoring 113 points to Albany’s 210 and New Hampshire’s 133.5.
The teams will kick-off their outdoor season on April 1 at the Colonial Relays, hosted by William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The start time for the meet has yet to be announced.