After wrapping up a stellar spring season at Cornell last weekend, the Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams are now set to compete in the America East championships this weekend, hosted by Albany. With the men finishing fourth and the women finishing in third in BU’s 2014 effort, head coach Mike Thompson hopes that his teams will continue to climb up the ranks in the nine-team championship.
“My goal is to be top three for sure, for both,” Thompson said. “But I think if we compete like we’re capable, we can be second for both sides.”
The Goliath keeping the Bearcats — and every other AE team — out of the top spot is the host, Albany. Having taken the top spot on the women’s side for six consecutive years and earning its 10th straight title on the men’s side in 2014, Albany’s perennial success has come to be an expectation in the conference.
But that’s not to say the Bearcats won’t try their luck at clawing at the Great Danes’ pedestal this weekend.
Sophomore Keishorea Armstrong and graduate student Alexis Murray have impressed in jump events throughout the season — with the former already having taken second in the triple jump at this year’s indoor championships in February.
“On the women’s side, jumps, sprints are the big events for us,” Thompson said. “But we have potential in the throws and some middle distance runners that could do pretty well for us.”
On the men’s side, distance is key according to Thompson, and rightfully so. Senior middle distance runner Jesse Garn has garnered national attention over the course of the season, most recently clocking an IC4A qualifying time of 1:47.03 in the 800 meter event at the Bucknell 5-Way Meet on April 18.
Other IC4A qualifiers for the Binghamton men include sophomore sprinter Jon Alkins and senior thrower Brandon Bordeau. With Alkins and Bordeau named as the Athlete of the Week for the men’s track and men’s field categories, respectively, on April 21, the success of the other Bearcats’ sprinters and throwers will be crucial to their success this weekend in Albany and beyond.
“That’s mainly what I’m hoping for [this weekend],” Thompson said. “To see more people make it to the ECACs and IC4A meets and also get more people solidified for the Regional Championship at the end of May.”
With the ECAC/IC4A championships set to kick off on May 15, the AE championships will be the final chance for many Bearcats to qualify. But for athletes like Garn and Armstrong — pacing the conference in their own right — this weekend will serve as another opportunity to perfect their performances before potentially heading onto the national stage.
“Garn and Keishorea [Armstrong] are capable of making it to the NCAA Final Round championship in Oregon,” Thompson concluded. “I think we have a few people that can place very high at the ECACs and IC4As […] this weekend will really show us how good of a team we are.”
The 2015 America East Outdoor Track and Field championships are set to begin on Saturday with the first event starting at 10 a.m. from the Track and Field Venue in Albany, New York.