The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Penn State National Open on Friday and Saturday. The meet included both a college division and a more competitive invitational section for each event.
In the invitational section, BU had a notable performance as five athletes made top-eight finishes. On the men’s side, senior Eric Holt was third in the mile (4:06.47), graduate student Joe Miceli was fourth in the pole vault (17-1), senior Jon Alkins was sixth in the 200 (22.0) and senior Peter Fagan was seventh in the pole vault (16-7 1/4). On the women’s team, senior Sarah Osaheni tied for fourth in the 400 (56.93), while junior Brooke Bonney finished fourth in the college-division weight throw (58-6 3/4).
BU head coach Mike Thompson was impressed by Osaheni and Bonney’s finishes.
“[They were] the standout performances of the meet,” Thompson said. “Very solid performances … by both of them.”
Other highlight performances in the college division included graduate student Ethan Hausamann, who finished fourth in the men’s 3,000 (8:27.52) and junior Travis Fountain, who was also fourth in his event — the men’s pole vault (15-3). On the women’s team, senior Sarah Haley finished second in the women’s pole vault (11-11 3/4) and freshman Samantha Beyar was right on her tail, placing third in the same event (11-11 3/4).
Thompson is optimistic looking ahead to the conference meet at the end of February.
“I think we’re on track to do well at the conference meet in a month,” he said. “I think we are where we should be. The next three weeks will be really important … we’ve got to make sure that everyone keeps improving and gets to where they’re capable of being.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams are set to compete again at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge on Friday. The meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. from the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track in University Park, Pennsylvania.