Coming off their impressive performances at the tri-meet versus Syracuse and Albany, the Binghamton University track and field teams concluded the America East championships this past weekend with mixed results.
The two-day event is arguably the toughest of the track season, but none of that seemed to faze the men’s squad, who poured in record-breaking feats en route to a second-place finish for the second year in a row.
Junior Jimmy Massar set the tone on day one for the Bearcats with a time of 1:04.43 in the 500-meter. Although not a first-place finish, Massar’s time was good enough for a new school record, edging out sophomore teammate Christian Smith’s mark of 1:04.72, achieved last season.
Junior Chris Gaube also put in a great effort in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 14:45.27, easily beating out second-place finisher Nicholar Decrescenzo of New Hampshire by more than a full second.
Day two featured another great performance from Massar, who with a time of 1:04.24 in the 500, beat his own record, set the previous day. The other noteworthy accomplishments set on this day were by sophomore Cazal Arnett, as he cruised in the 200- and 400-meter with respective times of 21.41 and 46.96. Both of those times were good enough for school records, and this represents the second consecutive year that Arnett has placed first in both events. Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson was very impressed with Arnett’s dominance.
“I liked everything. He shattered the school records and competed well,” Thompson said. “There was nothing about it I didn’t like.”
The final school record came from freshman Michael Schieck who finished sixth in the 1,000-meter, but beat Kevin Kirk’s 2002 record of 2:30.62, thanks to his showing of 2:27.42. These performances tallied a runner-up position for the Bearcats, which Thompson deemed admirable.
“They competed extremely hard,” Thompson said. “I feel when conference meet comes around, if it ends up being a battle of willpower, we will win, and we did that.”
The women’s team was not as successful, finishing sixth out of nine teams, with the lone outstanding performance on day one coming from senior Carly Gross and her second-place finish in the pole vault.
However, on the second and final day of the AE Championships, the women showed much more life, managing four top-five finishes. Among those was sophomore Rosie DeFino taking third in the pentathlon with an impressive score of 3,149, and junior Caitlin Wright placing fourth in the 800-meter while breaking a school record in the process. Joy Romulus previously held the record for Binghamton University by pulling off a time of 2:15.62, but Wright bested her with a mark of 2:14.74.
Overall, Thompson felt proud of the women’s performances, admitting they could have done worse.
“They performed extremely well,” he said. “The best-case scenario would have been fifth, but they could have placed as low as eighth, so they stepped up and competed. I am just as happy with the women as I am with the men.”
The Bearcats’ next event will be the IC4A Championships at Boston University lined up for March 7 and 8.