After finishing third in its last two meets, the Binghamton women’s track and field team earned a program-best runner-up finish at the America East Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the East Gym Track on Sunday afternoon. The men’s team, meanwhile, concluded its season with a fourth-place finish in the field of eight, and sophomore Jesse Garn won the 1,500.

“I was very impressed,” Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson said. “Couldn’t be happier with what [the women’s team] did. It was an almost perfect meet. Unfortunately, the guys didn’t [do] quite as well as they should have, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. The effort was there and sometimes, it just doesn’t go your way.”

The women’s squad narrowly missed finishing second at both last year’s outdoor meet and this year’s indoor championships, so Thompson said he saw the second-place finish as a long time coming.

“This is the first time they finished in the top two,” Thompson said. “And they were very close the last two meets … indoors this year, just six points out of second, and outdoors last year, just six points out of second. So they really wanted it very badly and they got it done. We thought it was going to be very close and they ran away with it. It was a great way to end the season.”

Thompson and his staff, composed of Annette Acuff, Natilee Dawkins and Gabe Fletcher, were named the America East Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year for the first time.

The Albany women’s squad had no trouble defending its title at the event, finishing with 245 points. The Bearcats captured second by a comfortable margin, outdistancing third-place Vermont by a score of 136-109.5.

BU junior Alexis Murray placed second in the triple jump and long jump, and finished in third in the javelin to lead the Bearcats with 22 points.

Senior Jessica Hennig cruised to a runner-up finish in the 400 (54.35) and served as the anchor for the third place 4×400 relay team (3:47.87). Junior Erika Kisel, who placed eighth in the 400, sophomore Ivory Taussig, who finished fifth in both the 100 and 200 and junior Kathleen Klein rounded out the BU 4×400 team. The foursome of Taussig, Klein, Kisel and sophomore Alexx Baum also managed a third-place finish in the 4×100 relay (47.24).

Freshman Jacqueline Huben impressed when she took first in the steeplechase (10:53.82).

“Alexis Murray was probably the highlight,” Thompson said. “Scoring 22 points with two second places and a third place. And then I would say Jackie Huben, winning the steeplechase, which was a big surprise. We knew she would place, but for her to win it and to win it convincingly was very impressive. I would say hers was the best single performance, and Alexis had the best meet overall.”

On the men’s side, Garn earned his first conference title with a time of 3:44.76 in the 1,500. He was also the anchor of the second-place 4×800 relay team (7:34.98), which included juniors Chris Fernandez, Raul Avalos and Ben Snodgrass. In a time of 3:16.40, seniors Mike Jennings and Casey Gilbert, sophomore Zaid Al-Doori and freshman Max Linden also captured second in the 4×400 relay.

Binghamton senior Jeff Martinez ran the 5,000 in a time of 14:54.16 to take second, while freshman Cameron Black finished third in the 110 hurdles (14.92).

Both sides concluded the event with six all-conference selections for Binghamton, with the top three finishers in each event being awarded the honor.