With a second-place finish for both Binghamton squads and five individual wins, the Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams put together solid performances at the Cornell Upstate Indoor Challenge.
Junior Dan Schaffer continued his success following the Great Dane Indoor Track Classic and won the mile (4:11:36) at the Cornell meet. Junior Mitch Halpern came in third (4:23:16), finishing just behind Schaffer.
“Dan [Schaffer] always takes care of himself,” said BU head coach Mike Thompson. “He’s mentally tough and always keeps himself healthy and ready for a meet.”
Alongside Schaffer, the men’s track and field team had individual wins from junior Greg Matzelle and senior Shamar Powell. Matzelle claimed first place in the 60-meter dash (9.90) and Powell took the 800-meter run (1:56:20), closely followed by junior Grayson Hoteling, who finished second (1:56:97). Matzelle is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Great Dane Classic and an impressive second-place performance In the Greg Page Relay (6.90) for an IC4A qualification.
Senior Peter Mastracco has put together solid weight-throwing performances over the last three meets, securing second in the Cornell Upstate Indoor Challenge (55-6 ½), fourth in the Great Dane Classic (55-8 ½) and fourth at the Greg Page Relay (50-8).
Powell capitalized on his second-place finish in the 1,000-meter run at the Great Dane Classic (2:28:34), where he was milliseconds behind Ottawa runner Sebastian Saville (2:28:01). Powell qualified for the IC4A with his performance.
Among other top men’s finishers was junior Troy Zanger, who was third in the heptathlon (4,854) coming off a third-place finish in the high jump (6-2 ¾) at the Greg Page Relay.
“I thought we did well for an early meet, and I saw promising performances across the board,” Thompson said.
On the women’s side, graduate student Brooke Bonney captured a win in the weight throw (61-10 ½) following her record victory in the weight throw at the Great Danes Classic last week (64-8). Bonney received clearance to participate in the Eastern College Athletic Conference meet as a result of her showing.
Graduate student Oyin Adewale secured a first-place finish in the shot put (45-2 ¼) to round out Binghamton’s individual winners.
Sophomore Hallie Buddendeck had a promising outing with a second-place finish in the 60-meter dash (7.82) and a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash (26.62)
“Hallie [Buddendeck] has been running very well and she looked promising out there, so we can expect her to continue to improve and run as she has been,” Thompson said.
Other top finishers from the women’s squad include junior Elly Scherer, who placed second in the 60-meter hurdles (9.05) behind Cornell junior runner Brittany Stenekes. Sophomore Brittany Korsah secured second place in the 400-meter dash (58:33), followed by sophomore Sophia Gelard with a sixth-place finish (1:02:36).
“Despite having a lot of athletes tired from last week, overall we did really well, and this is a solid step toward our conference meet,” Thompson said.
Freshman Dominique Jackson finished third in the 60-meter dash (7.90) while freshman Aziza Chigatayeva continued her successful freshman year, as she finished third in the mile run (5:06:45).
Cornell captured the team win in both the men’s and women’s meets.
Binghamton has two meets lined up in the following week, beginning with the National Open hosted by Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania, beginning Jan. 25 and carrying over into Jan. 26. The Kane Invitational will take place on Jan. 26 in Ithaca, New York, where host Cornell will look to secure another team win.