Over the weekend, the Binghamton track and field teams competed in the Virginia Challenge and the Bucknell Team Challenge and, despite no team scoring in Virginia, the women’s team captured a second place finish while the men’s team finished fourth at Bucknell. Overall, the Bearcats earned five first-place finishes.

“I thought it was a great meet,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “It’s nice to see people starting to really perform well as we get a couple weeks from the conference meet, which is our ultimate goal, so I was very happy with how they did.”

At the Bucknell Team Challenge, Binghamton captured five first-place finishes. Redshirt freshman Brian Luciano captured the gold in the hammer throw with a distance of 209-2 — breaking his own school record. Junior Lucciana Robertson in the high jump with a leap of 5-4.5. Graduate students Gabby Hyatt and Sophia Morone, sophomore Angie Mesa-Espinosa and freshman Tatum Norris in the 4×100 race. Senior Jenna Chan continued her success in the 100 hurdles with a distance of 13.69 and graduate student Mark Scanlon in the 800m race.

“[Luciano] in the hammer throw was another huge throw for him,” Thompson said. “He’s really firing on all cylinders right now. The women’s 4×100 ran very well. They’re really close to breaking the school record so it would not surprise me to see that happen at the conference meet in a couple of weeks. The hurdles went really well, and the hurdlers are running great.

On the men’s side, freshman Jose Iraola-Ceely finished fourth in the hammer throw with a distance of 166-2. In the high jump, sophomore Matthew Oluwole finished fifth with a leap of 6-2. Then in the 3000m steeplechase, sophomore Andrew Rosenblatt captured a bronze medal with a time of 9:29.12. Two Bearcats finished back-to-back in the 100m hurdles, earning second and third — graduate student Adrian Rippstein, with a time of 14.84 and freshman Angelo Confort, with a time of 14.85. Junior Oliver Madariaga had a time of 48.57 in the 400m, good enough for second. Sophomore Samson Joseph also had a second-place finish in the 100m with a time of 10.64. Lastly, In the long jump was freshman Putu Sutayasa, who finished third with a distance of 23-3.5.

“I thought the sprinters did very well,” Thompson said. “[Sutayasa] in the men’s long jump, that was, he had two jumps over 23 feet which was huge for him, he’s been consistent all year but he hadn’t hit a big jump yet so it was exciting to see him do that.”

On the women’s side, other notable finishes included Norris, who also competed in the pole vault, finishing third with a distance of 11-5.75. In the hammer throw, senior Gianna Hoose captured the silver medal with a distance of 167-8. Additionally, BU secured second, third, fourth and fifth place in the 100m race. Junior Zoe Rose took third in the 800m race with a time of 2:17.59. Finishing second In the 400m hurdles was senior Penelope Paldino, who crossed the line in 1:05.09. Finally, fifth-year Kyra Guerci competed in the 5000m and captured third with a time of 18:18.37.

“The sprinters and hurdlers have had a really good year as a whole, the group as a whole,” Thompson said. “I feel like Bucknell was about as good as any of the meets we’ve had so far, so that was nice to see.”

Facing an incredible field of competition at the Virginia Challenge, senior Josh Stone’s performance highlighted the meet for BU as he finished fourth in the 10,000m race with a time of 28:54.10 — breaking his own school record.

“That was a huge run for [Stone] — breaking 29 minutes,” Thompson said. “That mark should get him into the regional championships at the end of May which I know is a goal of his.”

The Bearcats will split into two groups to compete at the Penn Relays and East Coast Relays, respectively, from Friday, April 26 to Saturday, April 27. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.