Competing in the biggest event of the year, the Binghamton University men’s track and field team finished third out of nine teams at the America East championships this past weekend while the women finished in the middle of the pack at fifth place.
The two-day event began on Saturday, and the Bearcats wasted no time getting on the right foot. Freshman Robb Quiller placed first in the pole vault with a jump of 15-9, easily defeating Maine’s Mark Liimakka, who scored a 15-3. Freshman teammate Eric VanAerman tied Liimakka for second with an identical jump. The Bearcats also achieved a second place finish as freshman Nelson Hall recorded 6-4 in the high jump. It was a good way to start out the event, according to Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson.
“We needed a strong first day,” he said. “It motivated people to keep it going into the second day.”
On the women’s side, junior Kiki Gifft won the pole vault with a jump of 10-8 and sophomore Alicia Finger notched fourth in the 10,000 meter with a time of 38.25. Gifft’s finish coupled with Quiller’s means that the Bearcats have won the pole vault events at the championships for the second time in three years.
“It was exciting. It’s always nice when you sweep an event,” Thompson said.
Day two featured better efforts from the Bearcats, as both teams accumulated numerous top five finishes. Sophomore Erik van Ingen highlighted the men’s performance with his first-place tally of 3:51.34 in the 1,500. Other notables include senior Joanel Lopez earning runner-up in the shot put, thanks to a distance of 53:08.50, as well as senior Jimmy Massar and junior Chris Gaube, who both finished fourth in the 400 and 5,000, respectively.
For the women’s team, junior Caitlin Wright achieved a second-place finish in the 400 hurdles. Wright qualified for the NCAA regional meet with a time of 1:00.21 and also broke her own school record. Additional top performers include junior Jasmine Hinson achieving 56.36 and a second place finish in the 400, and senior Marsha Fiesinger also taking second in the pentathlon with a 4,202 showing.
Afterward, Thompson had nothing but praise for the way the women competed at the Championships.
“They really stepped up,” he said. “Going into it, we should have finished sixth; we knew we had to overachieve to get fifth and we did. I was very proud of them.”
Next up for the Bearcats is the IC4A/ECAC Championships hosted by Princeton, scheduled for May 15 to 17 at 10 a.m.