The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams competed over the weekend at the America East indoor track and field championships. The two-day event was held in Boston, Massachusetts, and several Bearcats earned first-place finishes, defended their titles from last year’s conference meet and took home all-conference honors, leading the women’s team to place third in a field of nine teams, and the men to place fifth out of nine.

“It’s been a very good season, but there have been some challenges as well,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “So it’s been frustrating in some ways, but I feel that the team really came together when it counted most this past weekend, so, yeah, overall, I’m very pleased with the season.”

The first day of action saw the Bearcats come out strong, with redshirt sophomore Brian Luciano, junior Alyssa Armitage and graduate student Josh Stone all defending their individual conference titles. Luciano took home gold in the men’s weight throw with a distance of 71-2.5, which broke his own school record. Armitage took home her third consecutive win in the women’s pole vault with a distance of 12-7.5 and became the first female athlete to win three straight individual conference titles since 2010-12. Stone’s 14:09.60 earned him a win in the 5,000m, and he has now won three AE 5,000m titles.

“It was very exciting,” Thompson said. “It’s always easier to chase than it is to be chased, so, when you’re a defending champion, it’s a little more pressure. [Luciano] threw very well, it was his personal best, and [Stone] looked amazing, the last lap of the race he just was on fire and won pretty easily. [Armitage] was struggling a little bit … But she still found a way to win, so that was impressive as well.”

Day one continued with graduate students Gianna Hoose and Penelope Paldino taking home silver in the women’s weight throw with a distance of 59-11.75 and the pentathlon with 3,380 points, respectively. Sophomore Tatum Norris tied for third place in the women’s pole vault with a distance of 11-7.75. Fourth-place finishes included sophomore Deborah Estabine in the women’s weight throw with a distance of 57-4.25, junior Sydney Leitner in the women’s 5,000 with a time of 16:57.19, sophomore Putu Sutayasa in the men’s long jump with a leap of 23-0.75 and freshman Jacob Park in the men’s pole vault with a distance of 15-6.25.

“It was a very good first day, [and] I thought that we did what we needed to do,” Thompson said. “We typically are a very good first-day team because of the pole vault and the weight throw, the 5K, the distance medley relay … Long jump as well, we’re traditionally pretty strong, so, we’re always a very good first-day team. I felt that we did exactly what we should have done.”

On Sunday, graduate student Jenna Chan took home gold in the women’s 60 hurdles with a time of 8.36, marking this the third title of her career. Graduate student Marcus Johnson captured a first-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 50-2.5 — his second AE title after winning the 400 hurdles last spring. Senior Joe Cardascia also captured a first-place finish in the 500m with a time of 1:03.11, breaking the school record and winning his first individual career title. Rounding out Binghamton’s first-place finishes was sophomore Brennan Delany, who won the heptathlon with 5,089 points.

“They performed very well, so I couldn’t have been happier,” Thompson said. “[Johnson] went over to the triple jump and on his last jump moved from third place to first place and had a personal best in his first 50-foot jump and that was one of the big performances of the meet, not just because he won and jumped far, but because he had just crashed in the 200 [after being knocked out of the race] and didn’t let it affect him at all. I mean, he was very composed the whole weekend.”

Day two continued with two runner-up performances from junior Matthew Oluwole in the high jump with 6-5 and Stone in the 3,000 with a time of 8:13.95. Earning bronze titles were freshman Anna Gansrow in the mile with a time of 4:56.10 and senior Lucciana Robertson in the high jump with a leap of 5-7. Rounding out the Bearcat’s top-five finishes on Sunday was Norris in the 200m, who placed fourth with a time of 24.53.

Three Bearcats earned three of the major awards. Luciano was named the Most Outstanding Men’s Field Athlete, Stone was named the Men’s Most Outstanding Track Athlete and Paldino earned the America’s East Women’s Indoor Track & Field Elite 18 Award for her performance during the meet and her academic accomplishments. The Binghamton men’s all-conference selections included Luciano, Stone, Johnson, Delany, Cardascia and Oluwole. The women’s all-conference team selections were Chan, Armitage, Paldino, Hoose, Norris and Gansrow.

“[For Paldino], the Elite 18, that was a total surprise,” Thompson said. “She was very excited and we were all very excited as well. So it’s always fun to get those individual awards, in addition to the team awards and that sort of thing.”

The Bearcats are set to return to Boston to compete in the ECAC/IC4A Championships from Friday, March 7 to Sunday, March 9. The first event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston, Massachusetts.