Runners from the Binghamton men’s and women’s cross country teams competed for the first time this season on Saturday at the Colgate/Harry Lang Invitational. The Bearcats, who did not race their top runners, finished seventh on the men’s side and eighth on the women’s. Both races featured eight competing teams.
“It was really a pretty low-key meet,” BU head coach Annette Acuff said. “We sat our top seven runners, so the team score was irrelevant.”
Leading the Bearcat men was sophomore Matt Gill, who finished 43rd of 94 runners with a time of 21:41.1. The meet marked Gill’s first time running for BU, as he redshirted during his freshman year a season ago. Following Gill were sophomores Nate Howe (21:53.1) and Patrick Watters (22:14.2). Rounding out BU’s scoring were seniors Andrew Sweeney and Jade Marhaba, who completed the 6,400-meter course in 22:14.9 and 22:47.5, respectively.
“The meet was a developmental one for those who aren’t in our top seven,” Acuff said. “It allowed them to get the rust out after not having raced in a while, but those that raced ran pretty well.”
The Naval Academy placed five of its runners in the top eight to secure an overall race victory. The fastest competitor in the men’s race was Navy junior Lucas Stalnaker, who set the pace with a time of 19:55.9.
In the women’s race, it was Bucknell who came out on top after placing four runners in the top 11. Of 111 runners, Syracuse senior Cassia Hameline was the top-overall finisher with a time of 17:17.
The Binghamton women were paced by three seniors; Anna Corrigan led the Bearcats with an 80th-place finish and a time of 19:59.4. Seniors Kailey Dwyer and Shannon O’Hara completed the 4,800-meter course with times of 20:07.3 and 20:39.7, respectively.
BU’s top runners did not compete this weekend, instead training in preparation for what will be their season-opening meet: the Seawolf Invitational hosted by Stony Brook this Saturday. This meet will be a sneak peek to the America East Conference Championships, as each AE team will compete. Both the men’s and women’s teams will face stiff competition from fellow AE schools, so this initial meeting will gauge BU’s position in relation to conference rivals. The first race of the Seawolf Invitational is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday in Stony Brook, New York.