Following fifth- and sixth-place finishes at the Great Dane Classic last week, the Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams both placed high at the Cornell Upstate Challenge on Saturday. The men tied for third of seven teams competing, while the women place third of eight teams.
The Bearcats also accomplished several notable individual achievements. Freshman David Bernstein won the men’s weight throw with a distance of 16.35 meters. After winning the men’s 3,000-meter last week, senior Eric Holt continued his success by taking first place in the men’s 1,000-meter run (2:26.92).
“Overall it was a solid meet; people looked like they have started to get back into the swing of things,” said BU head coach Mike Thompson.
Other notable finishers included senior pole vaulter Peter Fagan, who finished in second place with a vault of 16-1 feet and senior sprinter Ana Herbert, who took second in the women’s 400-meter (1:00.08). Additionally, freshman pole vaulter Samantha Beyar came in second with a maximum height of 12-1 3/4 and junior Brooke Bonney placed second in the women’s weight throw (18.23 meters).
One place where the Bearcats excelled was in the men’s 1,000-meter. Holt captured first place while BU also took third, fourth and sixth place, earning the team 24 of its 85 total points from this single event.
“We have a very strong distance team, middle distance and distance groups, so certainly that was part of it,” Thompson said.
Binghamton’s distance runners are coached by head cross country coach Annette Acuff. Because it is still early in the season, the Bearcats use meets like Cornell to train and prepare for the all-important conference meets at the end of next month.
“At the end of indoor season, [the runners] will be running their main events, and really looking to run fast,” Thompson said. “We use most of our meets for the first half, maybe even the first three quarters of the season as training days as well as competition.”
Binghamton is set to hit the track again at the Penn State National Open this Friday and Saturday. The meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Friday in University Park, Pennsylvania.