The end of a season always brings mixed feelings, but not for the Binghamton University cross country teams. A year with numerous records and firsts for the program has both teams smiling proudly following the NCAA East Regional Championships last weekend.

The Bearcats traveled to New York and were led by junior Christopher Gaube as he finished 39th out of 239 runners. He finished the 8,000-meter course in 33:08, leading his men’s team to a 15th-place finish out of 33 teams.

“It was the highest finish by a male since Division I,” head coach Annette Acuff said. “Chris ran a great race.”

The Bearcats were without star sophomore Erik Van Ingen as he was unable to finish the race. Van Ingen has finished first for the team in three races this season and second in the others.

“Finishing 15th without Erik was awesome,” Acuff said. “It was really exciting.”

Stepping up for BU was sophomore Casey Quaglia, who finished in 81st place. Classmates Andrew Ugolino, Adam Quinn and senior Adam Hill rounded out the top five for Binghamton. Ugolino finished in 83rd, with Quinn and Hill finishing 87th and 94th, respectively.

“Casey had an outstanding race,” Acuff said. “The rest of the guys finished well.”

The men’s team had never been ranked in the top 15 in the Northeast in program history, but was ranked 13th and 14th all season long.

Binghamton got revenge on America East rival Stony Brook, who finished second in the AE conference championship, narrowly beating BU. BU finished five points ahead of the Seawolves this weekend, despite not having their number two runner.

“Beating Stony Brook was nice,” Acuff said. “By [five] points was exciting.”

The women’s team ran as a pack, all finishing with a half-minute of each other. Leading the way was senior Jamie Schulte, who placed 100th out of 247 runners. Schulte finished the 6,000-meter course in 23:40. Sophomores Ashley Horton and Alicia Finger finished 102nd and 111th respectively, only three and 14 seconds behind Schulte. Freshman Ryann Cretney and senior Jennifer Hastings finished 113th and 123rd to wrap up BU’s scoring.

“They have been running together all season,” Acuff said. “Improvements from beginning to end for this team have been amazing.”

The team finished 20th out of 33 schools.

BU will wrap up the season officially at the ECAC and IC4A championships tomorrow. The Bearcats are not looking to send their top runners to the event, but to give their other runners a race to end the year on.

“We are not looking for team performance,” Acuff said. “[We are] just looking at individuals this weekend.”

The BU men’s team had successful races at events like the Penn State National and the Lehigh Paul Short Run, and with the 15th-place finish last weekend, they will have good recognition next season.

”[It was a] great season for our program,” Acuff said, “[with] huge steps forward for our men’s team giving our program an improved recognition and just a better overall program.”

Proud of her teams this season, Acuff has their potential on her mind.

“Our men’s top five were sophomores this season,” Acuff said. “That looks good for the future and makes top 10 [in the Northeast] a realistic goal.”