With Binghamton’s cross country teams set to host the conference championships this fall, five America East teams hit the Vestal course for a pre-conference meet on Saturday.

The men’s team finished second, while the women’s placed fourth.

“I think overall it was a solid start to the season,” Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff said. “We mainly were just looking forward to having the opportunity to race on our course … We’ve got mostly everyone healthy right now, so we were able to race the majority of our team.”

Four Bearcats recorded top-10 finishes in the eight-kilometer men’s race. Junior Collin Frost came in third overall with a 25:39.8 mark, and senior Vasili Papastrat (25:46.5), freshman Eric Holt (25:47.5) and junior Matt Johnson (25:52.9) followed close behind.

“I was happy with the guys getting second,” Acuff said. “We’ve certainly improved a lot from last year. We look really good I think going into this year. So it’ll be exciting to see what we can do over the next couple of months.”

While Frost could be a top-five runner for Binghamton this year, Acuff said she believes that with the depth on her team, BU’s top runners will fluctuate from race to race.

On the women’s side, senior Caitlin Jelinek (19:25.9) recorded the team’s highest finish at No. 17 in the five-kilometer race. Sophomore Alexis Hatcher placed right behind Jelinek with a 19:36.8 mark. No other Binghamton runners finished in the top 20.

“We had some girls who ran really well,” Acuff said. “Overall, I was pretty happy with how the women raced. We’ve got a pretty young team with a lot of sophomores and a couple of freshmen, so I think it was a good start.”

Binghamton is scheduled to return to action at 11 a.m. Sept. 21 at the Buffalo Stampede Invitational, hosted by the University at Buffalo.