In its season opener at the Greg Page Relays this weekend, the Binghamton track team showed no signs of rust as three Bearcats on the women’s side took gold. Binghamton kicked off its year on Saturday at the annual indoor event that featured teams from across the region. Seniors Christy DiMichele and Daniella Olusoga stood atop the podium in the pole vault and pentathlon, respectively, and junior Tori Shaffer captured first in the high jump.
DiMichele — who was named an All-America East outdoor pole vaulter in 2014 — put up a mark of 12-1 in her indoor effort Saturday. Teammate Olusoga would eclipse her old personal best of 3,443 in the pentathlon, posting 3,246 for the win in Ithaca. In the high jump event, Shaffer matched a personal best of 5-7 for her first place win. Both DiMichele and Shaffer eclipsed the IC4A qualifying standard in their events.
In a second-place finish for Binghamton, sophomore Keishorea Armstrong posted a time of 7.48 in the women’s 60-meter race. While that time did not earn her first, the finish was good enough to break BU’s previous record time in the 60-meter of 7.57 — a record set by Armstrong last season. Paired with a third-place finish in the women’s triple-jump, scoring 38-7, Armstrong was the only Bearcat on either side to place in the top-three of multiple events.
Junior Kierra Arthur would also take a second-place spot in the pentathlon, finishing behind Olusoga with a mark of 3,176. Freshman Sunja Joseph took second in the long jump event, recording a distance of 17-11 1/2. Rounding out the rest of the top-three female Bearcat finishers on Saturday were sophomore Sarah Osaheni, junior Nina Sarimento and sophomore Ana Herbert.
On the men’s side, junior Temi Bajulaiye would pace the team in the 500-meter race with a fourth place finish in 1:06.04. Bajulaiye’s mark was also met IC4A qualifying standards.
The track team is next scheduled to travel back to Cornell on Jan. 9 to participate in the Southern Tier Collegiate Open.