Finishing five runners in the top 25, the Binghamton men’s cross country team took first Saturday at the America East Championship hosted by Maine. The title-winning performance comes on the heels of a second-place finish in 2013.
BU’s 59 total meet points was a season-best, as its top runners averaged just under 25:25 to complete the 8,000-meter race.
For senior co-captain Matt Johnson – who paced the team with an eighth-place finish in 25:19.91 – the win was a sweet way to finish his last AE Championship.
“It was unreal,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to describe. I didn’t know if I expected [the win] that much. I just wanted to have the best race that I could possibly have. It turned out really well and the whole team was right behind me.”
Finishing after Johnson in the ninth, 10th and 11th spots were senior Jesse Garn, junior Ethan Hausamann and sophomore Eric Holt, respectively. With neither Garn nor Holt finishing in the top 25 last year, head coach Annette Acuff saw each one’s success to be critical in Binghamton’s top finish.
“I think the timing was just a lot better for us this year,” Acuff said. “We had a great team last year as well, although we had a lot of different individuals.”
“For the young guys to really step up and fill those gaps really made a difference for our program this year,” she added.
The championship win was the first for the Bearcats since 2009 and their second in a 14-year history with the America East. It was also the first AE men’s title for all of the runners currently on the squad.
For Hausamann, Johnson and Garn, it was also the first time in their careers that they captured all-conference honors.
“It’s really nice to see them go out on a great note,” Acuff said of her seniors. “Our team really pulled things together over the last couple weeks and it came together just very strong as a team and that really made all the difference for us.”
In the women’s races, Binghamton placed eighth overall in the nine-team contest with 183 total points. Junior Alexis Hatcher led the way for the Bearcats, placing 25th overall with a time of 18:52 in the 5,000-meter race. It was the fourth consecutive women’s race in which Hatcher would pace BU.
Not far behind was freshman Allison Davis, who clocked a time of 19:08.32 to earn her 32nd. Junior Elizabeth Greiner and sophomore Alana MacDonald posted times of 19:37.98 and 19:39.46, respectively, to round out the top 50 for Binghamton.
Next up for the Bearcats is the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet, hosted at van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. For Acuff, who was named America East Men’s Coach of the Year at the tournament, the hope is that her team will continue to rise to the occasion, as it did on Saturday.
“I think all sports teams are striving to do the very best they can at the America East level,” Acuff said. “Every year is a whole other year and it’s very challenging to keep kids healthy and keep everyone on the same page and just certainly have your best day when it counts.”
As for Johnson, he hopes that his team’s improvement continues in the postseason.
“We’d love to [have] a top-10 finish next – that’s definitely what we’re wishing for,” Johnson said. “Last year we got 10th, so this year we’re hoping to do better than that.”