For the second weekend in a row, the Binghamton University indoor track and field teams left campus for a meet, and once again senior Erik van Ingen set a school record.
On Friday, the first day of the two-day New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the New York City Armory, van Ingen placed second in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:21.18, which broke Michael Schieck’s former record of 2:26.30 that was set last season, and met the IC4A qualifying standard. A total of 42 runners participated in the event.
“I think [van Ingen is] in perfect position to qualify for nationals this weekend in the mile,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “He was excited because it was a fast time, and I think it made him realize that ‘Hey, not only am I fit, but my speed’s pretty good too.’ He was pretty excited about the time and what it means as far as how he can do this weekend in the mile, which is what his main focus is, getting back to NCAAs.”
Last January van Ingen broke the four-minute mark in the mile, with a time of 3:59.58 at Penn State.
Also on Friday, sophomore Zach Keefer placed second in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:05.72. Senior Andy Haupt completed the preliminaries of the men’s 200-meter dash in 22.41 seconds, finishing ninth in an event of 84 runners.
As for the women on Friday, sophomore Jessica Hennig finished fourth out of 52 in the women’s 500-meter dash with a time of 1:16.02, and freshman Camille Ginyard vaulted 3.65 meters and placed ninth in the women’s pole vault. Ginyard’s height of 11-1 3/4 met the ECAC Championships qualifying standard.
On Saturday, the Bearcats had several more notable performances, highlighted by a first-place finish in the New York/New Jersey men’s 4X400 relay. The team of sophomore Casey Gilbert, junior Christian Smith, Haupt and senior Cazal Arnett bested University at Albany by about two seconds with a time of 3:16.21.
Junior Eric VanAernam, junior Robb Quiller and sophomore Adam Helman all notched top-10 finishes in the men’s pole vault. VanAernam placed third with a 4.90 meter vault. Quiller finished in sixth place.
In a 3,000-meter run with 26 participants, senior Adam Quinn posted a time of 8:19.41, which secured a second-place finish. Quinn fell three seconds shy of Duke University’s Mike Moverman.
On the women’s side, sophomore Ashley AuPont placed third in the women’s high jump, and the 4X400 relay team of freshmen Kathleen Klein and Erika Kisel, junior Jessica Conter and Hennig finished second in the New York/New Jersey Section with a time of 3:56.44. The Bearcats’ relay squad lost to Albany by six seconds.
“I thought it was a great meet,” Thompson said. “We had a lot of good performances in a lot of different events. We’re really just gearing up for conference, which is [Feb. 18-19,] and I think our team is in great shape for this time of year.”
With the America East Championships 10 days away, Thompson is pleased with how his team is performing in preparation for the meet.
“I think we’re in excellent position going into the conference meet,” he said. “We always seem to run a lot better at the conference meet than we do leading up to it, and I feel like we’re a little bit ahead of where we normally are for this time of the year.”
Binghamton’s next meet is scheduled for Friday at the Events Center, where the Bearcats will play host to Syracuse University.
“It’s going to be a very low-key meet,” Thompson said. “[Syracuse] is getting ready for [its] conference meet, we’re doing the same. We use it as another training day in preparation for the conference meet, even though it is a competition and it’s a dual meet. Neither Syracuse or Binghamton are going into it to beat each other up and get a victory, as much as we just want to have good performances and prepare for the important [conference] meet.”
“We’re not really going to sit anybody out,” he continued, adding that while some distance runners might sit and jumpers will continue in their regular events, runners might be used in distances different from their usual events.
Action is set to begin at 4 p.m.