The Binghamton University track and field team is one step closer to the conference championship after this weekend, when the Bearcats competed at two different meets.

The squad took part in the Syracuse Invitational on Saturday, where although there was no team scoring, the athletes succeeded in impressing their head coach, Mike Thompson, who was happy with the outcome of the meet.

“There were several good performances and a lot of solid performances,” Thompson said about his team in Syracuse.

At the top of the list of solid performers was freshman Casey Gilbert, who placed first in the 500-meter dash, after running the 500 in competition for the first time. In addition, Gilbert helped the 4 by 400-meter relay team to a victory by running the second leg. Senior Maureen Metz also placed first in the 500 on the women’s side, with her and Gilbert marking the only two individual first-place performances.

“Casey ran a good time for his first 500,” Thompson said. “I think Casey Gilbert was a standout for the men on the 500 and then on the winning 4 by 4. Maureen ran a good race to be coming back from a calf injury and it was nice to see her get back on track.”

Though no one else placed on top, several other athletes earned mentioning. For the women, senior Krystelle Patrice recorded second-place finishes in both the 55- and the 200-meter dash. Michelle Eberhart was also on point, finishing with a personal best in the long jump as well as an indoor personal best in the triple jump. Thompson even referred to her as the “standout for the women’s team.”

In addition to the Syracuse meet, many other runners competed at the Collegiate Invitational in New York City this weekend. There was no team scoring incorporated at this meet either, and although no Binghamton athletes placed in the top eight, Thompson was in good spirits about the team’s performance.

“I think the New York City meet went really well,” Thompson said. “You have to understand that the New York City meet has many of the very best Division I teams in the nation, across the nation competing there. UCLA was there, Texas A&M was there, all the teams that are the best teams in the country. So it’s not the type of meet where we’re going to go down there and have people placing in the top six very often. We look at it from how well they run or jump or throw. So, you know, we were happy with how we performed.”

In discussing the team’s best performances, Thompson cited freshman Zach Keefer’s run in the 500, sophomore Corey Poepperling winning the heptathlon and both the men’s and the women’s 4 by 400 relays. This is the third time this season that the men have won the 4 by 400, and they have already qualified for the IC4A meet in March.

In addition to IC4As and the NCAA qualifiers, there is only one more meet left before the conference championship begins on Feb. 19. The meet is this coming Friday, and it will be the first and only home meet of the season. Thompson is excited for this meet, in which Binghamton hosts both Syracuse and Albany, primarily because of the enjoyable and relaxing atmosphere the event will provide.

“I think it’ll be fun,” he said of the upcoming meet. “You get to see the fans and family come and cheer us on, and I think it will be nice to have it here at home. We’re not going to overdo it because we have to stay healthy for conference, but I think the athletes will try to record good times and we’re just going to take it as another day of training, but it should be a good time.”

Thompson and his Bearcats remain confident in their abilities to perform at the conference meet, and their training is still dedicated to what lies ahead of them in two weeks.

“I think they did just that,” Thompson said when asked if he thought these past meets prepared his team for the conference championship. “We’re running well, and we’re exactly where we want to be so these next two weeks will be easy training weeks in order to get ready for conference coming up, and we’re excited for it.”