For the first time in program history, the Binghamton University men’s cross country team has been crowned America East champions.
The America East championships took place this past Saturday at the University of Vermont with all nine schools in the conference competing for the title. The Bearcats earned their first-ever AE title with a dominating team performance garnering 30 points; they finished ahead of the defending champions, New Hampshire, who finished with 60 points.
“It was an amazing feeling,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “It was one of the coolest things and one of the best experiences of my life.”
Bearcat junior Erik van Ingen claimed the men’s individual title finishing the 8,000-meter course in 25:18.7 ahead of 80 other runners. He became the first Binghamton runner to win the conference individual title. Teammate and graduate student Chris Gaube finished just eight seconds later, claiming second place for the Bearcats.
“To be honest it was pretty surreal,” Acuff said. “We had thoughts of Erik and Gaube going one and two and it actually worked out. They pulled away from the field in the last mile.”
Just two weeks ago, van Ingen finished 17th out of 386 runners at the Lehigh invite, setting a program record for highest individual finish. Adding the individual AE title to his resume has made this a season to remember for van Ingen.
“It’s gratifying considering where I was a year ago,” van Ingen said. “Finally coming full circle brings gratification. The conference has a lot of good runners and I am going to cherish the win as a validation of what I’ve been working toward.”
In last year’s championships, Gaube and van Ingen went third and fourth respectively as Binghamton finished in third.
“It was truly a special day,” Gaube said. “It was an emotional victory for many of us judging by how far we’ve come and just being part of the development and seeing it come together.”
The biggest surprise of the meet for Binghamton was junior Casey Quaglia, who finished fourth. He crossed the finish line just behind Vermont senior Doug Maisey. Quaglia, who finished 34th in last year’s AE championship, shocked his team and the rest of the field with a fourth-place finish in a time of 25:40.8.
“Casey’s performance was the highlight of the day,” Gaube said. “He’s had his ups and downs, so it makes it exciting and it turned out to be such a wonderful day for him. I am proud to have him on our team.”
“Seeing Casey in fourth was amazing,” van Ingen said. “He was a long shot for top-10 but all our guys were coming in pretty darn early.”
Acuff and Joe Pienta were named the America East Men’s Cross Country Staff of the Year for the first time in their careers. Acuff is in her 10th year as head coach of the cross country teams, and has led the program since its move to Division I nine years ago.
“It’s pretty astonishing, what she’s done,” van Ingen said. “She works really hard and thinks of ways to make us faster. She taught me patience, and she’s had a different affect on each person on this team but they all have been positive.”
“Not enough can be said about [her],” Gaube said. “She’s invested so much time, energy and commitment to our program. She deserved the title as much as any of us if not more. She built the program from the bottom up. It was definitely an emotional but well-deserved championship.”
Two years removed from their second consecutive eighth-place finish at the conference championships, Acuff brought in impressive recruits that included van Ingen and freshman Jeff Martinez.
Martinez finished 10th for the Bearcats, finishing in 26:01 minutes and receiving All-Conference honors. In the women’s race, freshman Rachel Miura was the Bearcats’ top finisher, placing 10th in the 5,000-meter race in a time of 19:01.80. She is the first Binghamton female runner to earn All-Conference honors since 2006. The women’s squad finished seventh out of the nine schools. All top-10 finishers received all-conference honors.
“To have two freshmen receiving all-conference honors was truly special,” Acuff said. “We also had the top-two freshmen finishers in the men’s race.”
Junior Adam Quinn rounded out the top five for the Bearcats with a 13th-place finish. Junior Andrew Ugolino was 17th, while freshman Evan Bloomberg was 19th.
Halloween night marked the Bearcats return home from the AE meet, their first ever return home as champions. They were greeted by a crowd of over 50 people. Among them were teammates from the track and field team and members of the men’s soccer team, who stuck around after their 4-0 win over UMBC that night.
“It was a wonderful surprise and was the icing on the cake for the day,” Gaube said on the emotional moment of seeing the welcoming crowd. “It was just amazing that all those people were there screaming and yelling for us.”
Gaube led the Bearcats off the bus holding the championship trophy over his head and through the crowd.
“Everyone was going nuts,” Gaube said. “They all are our best friends and the track team is like our family.”
Despite the emotion and excitement that came with winning their first title, the Bearcats season is not over. Binghamton is scheduled to participate in the NCAA Northeast Regional on Nov. 14.
“The guys are enjoying themselves now,” Acuff said. “They also know I’m very committed to see where we finish in the Northeast. Being top-10 is equally as important to AE success.”
Despite only nine years as a member of Division I athletics, the Bearcats have been consistently in the top-10 in the Northeast this season, which Acuff said is impressive.
“We are in one of the most competitive regions in the country,” she said. “It’s pretty amazing for our program to be top-10 after only nine years in the Division.”
For now the team is going to enjoy the success of the conference championship, but the program still has the potential to rise to even higher prominence in the future.
“Regionals is as big as AE and we are looking to shock a lot of people,” Quaglia said. “Every year we’ve been improving and we’re [going to] to keep working hard.”