Led by first-place finishes from fifth-year senior Erik van Ingen in the 800 and the distance medley relay team, the Binghamton University men’s track & field team finished in third place at the America East Indoor Track and Field Championship this weekend at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center.
The Binghamton men sat in first place at the end of the meet’s opening day, earning top-three spots in five separate events. The men’s distance medley relay team, consisting of van Ingen, freshman Jesse Garn, junior Casey Gilbert and graduate student Andrew Ugolino took first with a time of 9:56.70 seconds.
In individual events, graduate student Adam Quinn placed second in the 5,000 with a time of 14:29.09. Senior Eric VanAernam finished runner-up in the pole vault and senior Robb Quiller followed in third. Senior Colin Anderson placed third in weight throw with a best throw of 56-9 feet.
On the following day, van Ingen picked up his sixth America East track title, taking first in the 800 with a time of 1:50.70. Freshman Cal Michaels took third place in the 3000 with a time of 8:19.88 minutes. In field events, senior Nelson Hall took third in High Jump with a jump of 6-5 feet.
Senior Jesse Fuca took third place in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.20 seconds, breaking the school record of 8.24 set by Adam Goldberg in 2006.
The meet ended with Binghamton taking third overall and University at Albany repeating as champions.
A program-best 11 Binghamton men received all-conference honors, awarded to individuals who place in the top three of their event, as well as the top-three relay teams of each relay race.
Binghamton is set to head to the ECAC/IC4A Championships which will be hosted in Boston on March 3-4. Van Ingen will then attend the NCAA Championships at Boise State University to take part in the mile.