The Binghamton men’s and women’s cross country teams raced at the Albany Invitational on Saturday, marking their last competition before the America East Championships, set for October 31.
With the top nine men and the top seven women resting and preparing for their upcoming races, other runners, many of whom have not competed since the Bearcats’ opening meet in early September, were given a chance to show what they could do.
The Binghamton men, who finished eighth out of 14 teams, were led by Nate Howe. The sophomore finished the 8,000-meter course with a time of 26:25.9, placing him 25th of 157 runners.
Howe was followed by a pair of seniors, Jared Rousell and Jade Marhaba, who finished with times of 26:54.5 and 27:31, respectively. Rounding out the scoring five for BU were sophomore Matt Gill (27:36.3) and senior Andrew Sweeney (27:45.1).
Middlebury, led by senior Sebastian Matt (25:38.7), placed three runners in the top 15 to secure the overall victory. Sacred Heart junior Sean Ferguson was the top finisher on the men’s side, completing the course in 25:11.
The women’s side was dominated by the host Great Danes, who placed five runners in the top 10 to win with a score of 25. They were led by junior Jessica Donohue, who finished the 5,000-meter course in 17:31.3 to take the overall title.
The Binghamton women finished 10th out of 13 teams. Senior Kailey Dwyer led the Bearcats, covering the course in 19:48. Close behind her were senior Shannon O’Hara and freshman Erika Yamazaki who finished with times of 19:51 and 19:57.3, respectively.
Binghamton will now turn its attention to the AE Championships.
“We’re just focused on running as a team,” BU head coach Annette Acuff said. “The focus and the expectation is that everyone is just able to run to their best potential.”
At last year’s conference championship, the men narrowly edged out UMass Lowell, 59-62, to claim the AE crown. The women finished eighth with 183 points. Both races had nine teams.
This year, Acuff has different goals for the teams.
“Our goal on the men’s side is to certainly finish in the top two or three,” she said.
She believes that most of the runners on the men’s side are in the best shape of their lives and is looking to use this talent to find success.
“On the women’s side, we’d like to be somewhere in the middle of the pack.” Acuff said.
Acuff would also like to see her team’s work pay off and continue on last season’s performance.
“We’ve been focusing all year on some great pack running,” Acuff said. “As long as they execute well and run some smart races, we should be good.”
The Bearcats are set to head to Stony Brook for the AE Championships on Saturday, October 31. The time of the first race is yet to be announced.