The 2024 season concluded for the Binghamton men’s and women’s cross country teams on Friday afternoon in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, as they competed in the NCAA Northeast Regional meet. With three top-100 runners across the two races, the men placed 16th in their 38-team field while the Bearcat ladies settled for 24th out of 39 teams.

“We’re just kind of hoping to be competitive within the region, and I think we showed that on Friday,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “We had several individuals that competed really well and a lot of young freshmen that had a great experience. Looking to get both experience for a lot of kids at that level, just a little higher level competition, it helps them with their development and getting used to being in a big field like that in cross country.”

Graduate student Josh Stone closed the book on the cross country chapter of his Binghamton career with his best career outing at a regional meet, placing 42nd in the 256-strong men’s 10k field with a time of 31:02.86. Stone finished his time on the trails as one of the most decorated runners in Binghamton history, having tied the men’s record for all-conference selections with three earlier this month.

“[Stone] has been a great leader for us,” Acuff said. “He’s been a great competitor. He’s really helped a lot of the younger guys on the team as a team captain. So yeah, we’re going to miss him quite a bit. He’s been great to have in the program, and just really very talented and has developed really well over the last five years.”

Elsewhere in the men’s field, strong finishes both inside and out of the top 100 propelled the squad to its 16th-place finish. Just 21 seconds behind Stone, crossing the line in 31:23.04, was junior Andrew Rosenblatt, who carried his America East second-team all-conference momentum into Friday’s race to earn a 63rd-place finish. Just outside the top 100 in 109th with a time of 32:06.77 was freshman Bobby Mayclim, while packed together in 130th and 132nd with respective times of 32:23.47 and 32:24.98 were freshmen Nick Thomas and Oliver Jibb.

“Just overall as a team, I thought we had an outstanding day and it looks good for the future,” Acuff said. “We lose [Stone], but that’s really it. We do return [with] everyone else. I think that gives us something to shoot for next year. See if we can climb that regional ladder a little bit and maybe finish a few places in front of that 16th spot.”

In the women’s 6k, junior Sydney Leitner continued to lead the way for BU as she has all season by punching in a timecard of 21:29.07 to secure 74th out of 268 finishers in the field. Elsewhere in the race, senior Jennifer Mui crossed the line in 151st with a time of 22:23.88, with freshman Anna Gansrow not far behind her in 158th place overall with a time of 22:32.23. The final tallies placed Binghamton in 24th as a team with 732 points.

Binghamton’s cross country season comes to an end, with its runners having received multiple honors from both the AE and beyond. While the women’s squad fell short of defending its AE title, both teams brought home third-place honors in the conference with two all-conference runners a piece. The team’s strongest meet of the season remains the Vermont Fall Foliage Invitational, with the squads sweeping gold both on the team side while Stone and Leitner swept the individual titles. Now, with the indoor track and field season on the horizon, Acuff will look to continue to develop her talented rosters.

“With both indoor and outdoor track, they’re both great opportunities to continue to develop with your leg speed primarily in some shorter distance events,” Acuff said. “So that’s what we’ll focus on during the track season. Just kind of keep plugging away, and that’ll help us going into the next cross country season for sure. Just continue to build a little more confidence and continue to grow and develop a little bit.”