The Binghamton men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in their final meet of the season on Friday at the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. Both squads saw positional improvements from 2024’s NCAA Northeast Regional meet when the men finished 16th and the women 24th. This time around, the men’s squad finished 13th in a 38-team field, while the Bearcat ladies finished 19th out of 37 teams, bringing Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff’s 25th year at the helm of the program to a close.

“I think overall, we had a great season,” Acuff said. “We were really pleased with how we competed at the America East championships and also at the NCAA Regional meet. We showed a lot of improvement this season, especially at the NCAA regional and the conference meet, too. So overall, we were very pleased.”

Senior Andrew Rosenblatt closed his Binghamton cross country career with a career-best 57th-place finish in the competition, finishing with a time of 30:40.5 in the 263-strong men’s 10k championship race. Leading the way for the Bearcat men, however, was sophomore Bobby Mayclim, finishing the race in 38th with a time of 30:23.7. Mayclim’s finish is tied for sixth highest in program history among men at the NCAA Northeast Region meet.

Other Bearcats finishers in the top-100 for the men’s squad included junior Liam Cody in 75th with a time of 30:54.2 and sophomore Nick Thomas in 97th with a time of 31:09.2. Trailing just seconds behind Thomas was freshman Anthony Zazzaro in 107th with a time of 31:15.8, while freshmen Noah Hilker and George Thomatos turned in 147th and 148th place finishes with times of 31:46.1 and 31:46.2, respectively. The final tallies saw Binghamton’s men finish 13th with 373 points.

For the Bearcat women, sophomore Anna Gansrow turned in the team’s best performance, placing 59th out of 251 finishers with a time of 21:02.1 in the women’s 6k championship race. Just seconds behind was senior Sydney Leitner in 62nd with a time of 21:05.0, as her BU cross country career came to an end.

No other Bearcat woman placed in the top 100, but several returners posted notable finishes for Binghamton. Freshman Alice Rappazzo crossed the line in 126th place with a time of 21:50.5, junior Vicky Mordvinova came in 147th place with a time of 22:05.1 and junior Brynn Hogan in 164th with a time of 22:23.3. When it was all said and done, the Binghamton women finished 19th in team scoring with 552 points.

“We take a little bit of time off,” Acuff said, discussing the team’s offseason focus. “We do have our first indoor meet the first weekend in December. A few of our distance runners will compete at that first indoor meet, but most of the team will compete later in January, when we open up after the holiday break.”

Despite Binghamton’s cross country season coming to a close, the Bearcats earned a slew of AE honors. The men posted historic performances in the AE championship [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/sports/cross-country-competes-at-america-east-championship-2/172701/] and the women continued a three-year streak of underclassmen earning AE all-conference selections. The Bearcat men and women combined for eight AE all-conference nods, with five coming from the men’s side and three from the women’s.

Among the all-conference selections were both Mayclim and Gansrow, the team’s top finishers in Friday’s meet. Both are set to return to the program next year as Acuff looks to continue to develop her roster.

“I think the future of the program looks fantastic,” Acuff said. “We’re super excited about the talent we have on both teams, and really looking forward to the future.”