The Binghamton men’s and women’s cross country teams had a performance to remember at the Lehigh/Paul Short Run on Friday.
In the men’s Gold Race, the Bearcats finished seventh of 27 teams with 231 points. Georgetown took the race after tallying 37 points and putting four runners into the top 10. Villanova followed close behind with 56 points, while the University of Guelph scored 160 points, finishing in third place.
Patrick Tiernan, a senior from Villanova and five-time All-American, won the course with a time of 23:55.
BU was led by senior Collin Frost, who finished with a time of 24:29 over the 8,000-meter course — good enough for 17th place out of 278 runners. This time puts him second on the all-time list for the Bearcats.
“For him personally, that was his best ever performance,” said cross country coach Annette Acuff. “He had his best race ever.”
Following close behind, as they were at the Seawolf Invitational two weeks ago, were senior Ethan Hausamann and junior Eric Holt, who crossed the line at 24:45 and 24:59, respectively. Hausamann finished in 32nd place overall while Holt placed in 52nd.
Acuff intended to have as many runners as possible finish under the 25-minute mark, and the next pack of Bearcats finished just off that mark. Seniors Jon Vallecorsa (25:12), Nate Kozyra (25:13), graduate student Andrew Roache (25:13) and sophomore Tom Moshier (25:38) rounded out the Bearcat participants.
“Overall, we had a really good day,” Acuff said. “It went really well; we had probably 90-95 percent run really well.”
The women competed in the women’s Brown Race, scoring 252 points, placing third out of 45 teams. BU was only bested by Saint Joseph’s and Bloomsburg who scored 166 and 227 points, respectively.
The race was won by Swarthmore senior Katie McMenamin, who completed the course in a time of 21:23.
The Bearcats were led by senior Alexis Hatcher, who finished 20th out of 387 runners, covering the 6,000-meter course in 22:05.
Seconds behind her was sophomore Allison Davis, who crossed the finish line with a time of 22:11.
“All of the girls ran really well,” Acuff said. “[But] Davis was the performer of the day.”
Last year at the same meet, Davis ran almost a full minute slower, finishing at 23:09.
As for the team, Acuff was aiming to have five runners finish under 23 minutes, and they did just that. Junior Eileen O’Hara finished with a time of 22:33 and was followed closely by freshman Jessica Thatcher (22:37). Junior Alana MacDonald finished fifth for the Bearcats with a time of 22:48. Senior Lizzie Greiner almost made it six runners, just missing that time and crossing the line at 23:05.
“I think we’re in a great place for the season,” Acuff said. “I have to keep everyone healthy … and [focus on] getting in some good training.”
Acuff expressed excitement for both the men’s and women’s teams.
“It sets the tone for the rest of the season,” she said. “We have a lot of positive momentum going into the conference championship in another month.”
The men’s and women’s cross country teams are set to compete at Albany for the Albany Invitational on Saturday, October 17. The women’s race is set to begin at 11:45 a.m., with the men to follow at 12:30 p.m.