The Binghamton men and women’s track and field teams began the new year at the Gulden Invitational in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Saturday, where the women finished second out of seven teams while the men earned a third place result out of six teams. Leading the way for BU was graduate student Sophia Ryan, who named the Women’s Most Outstanding Performer of the meet, with several other Bearcats finishing in the top five in their events.

“It was nice getting back at it,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “Competing is more fun than training, of course, so think they were excited to get back as well.”

Ryan finished first in the 1000 meter race with a time of 2:48.31, in her first track and field meet for Binghamton. With this time Ryan broke not only the school record of 2:49.83 set by Alexis Hatcher in 2015, but she broke the Bucknell facility record as well. Along with Ryan’s individual success, the Bearcats posted two other individual winners on the women’s side. Senior Jenna Chan took first in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.58, and sophomore Alyssa Armitage was first in the pole vault with a height of 12-7.5.

“It was really exciting for everybody,” Thompson said. “Everybody was cheering [Ryan] on. She ran a really strong race, and she was excited as well. You know I think that she looks at it as just a step you know toward bigger things but the whole thing was very exciting.”

In addition to three first-place finishes for the women, the Bearcat women earned five silver medal placements. In the field, junior Lucciana Robertson in the high jump with a height of 5-4.5, senior Gianna Hoose was the runner-up in the weight throw with a distance of 50-3.5 and freshman Tatum Norris in the pole vault with a height of 11-7.75. On the track, graduate student Sophia Morone finished with a time of 25.61 in the 200 and junior Jennifer Mui clocked in a time of 5:12.19 in the mile. The success didn’t stop there — eight Bearcats finished their respective events in the top five, and as a team, the Bearcats finished in second, right behind Bucknell, the host of the meet.

“[Redshirt freshman Brian Luciano] in the weight [throw had] a big throw,” Thompson said. “[Armitage] in the pole vault — she had a great day as well. But I think anybody who won an event, they performed very well because it was a fairly competitive meet.”

On the men’s side, three Bearcats finished in first. Luciano won the weight throw with a throw of 65-5, and graduate student Mark Scanlon took the mile with a time of 4:16.40. Lastly, junior Joey Cardascia punched in a time of 49.59 captured first in the 400. Adding silver medals to Binghamton’s effort were sophomore Samson Joseph in the 400 with a timesheet of 49.94 and senior Brandon Love in the pole vault with a height of 15-3.

“Then the 400 [meter race] with [Samson] and [Cardascia] getting first and second… they were basically running [well],” Thompson said. “It was just the two of them because they were far ahead of everybody else and that was a very exciting race as well.”

Between the men and women, 12 runners placed within the top 10. Freshman Angelo Confort and graduate student Nick Malfitano placed sixth and seventh in the 60 hurdles with times of 8.58 and 8.60, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 finishes was freshman Alexa Colondona in the 60 hurdles with a time of 9.12, good enough for eighth. Binghamton has five meets left before the America East (AE) Championships, and each meet will continue to prepare them.

“Our focus is always the conference meet, so we just are preparing for that,” Thompson said. “Every weekend we put athletes in events to prepare them for that meet which is, I think Feb. 19 and 20 in Boston, so that that’s kind of the main objective is just train and compete in such a way that we’re ready to go in about a month.”

Binghamton’s next competition will be the Dr. Sander Invitational, which begins on Friday, Jan. 26. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Armory in New York, New York.