The Binghamton University cross country teams put up strong performances at the Albany Invitational this past Saturday, just two weeks before the America East championship meet. The men’s team finished sixth out of 24 teams, while the women’s team finished ninth out of 24 teams.

“We ran really well,” Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff said. “It was a good meet.”

The men’s team finished sixth despite the absence of its top runners, who had traveled to compete at the Penn National Open, which was scheduled for this past Friday. After the meet was canceled due to snow, the decision was made to withhold the top runners from competition for two reasons: to prevent travel fatigue and possible subsequent injury, and to allow the rest of the team to get into a good race to see who will complete the 10-man roster at the conference championship in two weeks.

“We used the meet to see who we can use for our top 10,” said Acuff.

BU senior Chris Raulli finished 26th out of a field of 189 competitors, completing the 8,000-meter course in 25:44, a team-best for the day. Freshman Brendan Connell finished a close second on the team and 32nd overall with a time of 25:47. Sophomore Tyler Stachecki finished 38th. Rounding out the top five were freshmen Vasili Papastrat and Jason Santos, finishing 47th and 53rd, respectively.

“Tyler was consistent throughout the race, and Chris Raulli ran a great race,” Acuff said. “Connell and Raulli had their best performances of the season.”

When asked if the pre-race strategy was to run as a pack and finish close to each other the way they did, Acuff responded, “They’ve been consistently close all season [and] we wanted them to push each other. They just ended up running [as a pack]. We’ve had great depth this year, and it’s helped the program a lot.”

Marist College took home the men’s team title. Rochester Institute of Technology came in second followed by host University at Albany.

Adverse conditions canceled the Penn State meet on Friday, but the Albany Invitational gave the runners a good course to work with.

“The weather was great,” said Acuff. “It was a good day for running.”

Acuff was pleased by the performance of her women’s team.

“The times were great,” she said. “Many of the girls had personal bests at the course, and it was the best meet for the women as a team this season.”

Junior Kim Law led the Bearcats, finishing in 24th with a time of 18:27 on the 5,000-meter course. Freshman Rachel Miura finished in 33rd place with a time of 18:41. Freshman Lindsay Raulli came in at 50th, while juniors Paulina Nunez and Sarah Veith came in 56th and 65th, respectively.

“Having four girls under 19 minutes was really great,” said Acuff. “We’ve seen a big improvement from the beginning of the season.”

Both teams’ next meet is the America East championship meet, held at Vermont on Saturday, Oct. 31.

“We’re pretty excited, [but] we’re trying to be patient,” Acuff said. “Keeping everyone healthy and rested. We want to fine-tune everybody and prepare them for the meet.”