10. Jake Katz shoots 6-under-par in a round

Binghamton University junior Jake Katz has received praise for his performance as a Bearcat, and in April took that excellence a step further. He shot a 6-under-66, setting a new school record and winning America Sky Conference Player of the Week.

9. Baseball beats Tennessee, comes six outs away from defeating defending champion LSU

Head coach Tim Sinicki’s teams are known to be consistently good, and with a win in the NCAA tournament, Binghamton was a nationally significant team. That potential came to fruition with a win over the SEC’s Tennessee on March 5. Just over three weeks later, BU would give the defending national champions a run for their money, leading 7-6 going into the eighth before falling 13-7.

8. Softball matches win total from previous year just 12 games into the season

Binghamton’s softball team was coming off a 2-19 year in conference and 7-36 overall. In 2010, it was obvious early on that things were different. With a 9-1 win over St. Francis on March 21, BU was 7-5. It was a precursor to a record year for softball, led by Deannie Plemon and Jessica Phillips.

7. Women’s lacrosse wins first conference game since 2004

Say what you will about the women’s lacrosse team, but ending a six-year conference drought is nothing to scoff at. After the 12-10 win over Stony Brook, which was Binghamton’s second-ever conference win, the players stormed the field as they appreciated the significance of the event.

6. Volleyball wins America East tournament

This was a team that spent the regular season underachieving. Michelle McDonough and Anna Lejina were superstars in the conference, Glenn Kiriyama won Coach of the Year honors and the Bearcats were picked to finish first in the AE preseason poll. Instead Binghamton’s play was up-and-down, earning a four-way tie for second place. Come tournament time, though, the Bearcats lived up to their potential, beating three-time defending champion and nemesis Albany along the way.

5. Van Ingen runs four-minute mile, men’s cross country wins America East

After years of struggles and futilities, the men’s cross country team finally reached that vaunted goal of taking the America East title. Erik van Ingen did his part, winning the conference’s individual title. A few months later, van Ingen would become the first BU athlete to run the mile in under four minutes, just drawing more attention to a special year for cross country.

4. Broadus and six players dismissed from men’s basketball team

When the men’s basketball team won the 2009 AE tournament, the campus was abuzz over it. But just seven months later, everything had changed. Stars D.J. Rivera, Tiki Mayben, Malik Alvin, coach Kevin Broadus and three other players were dismissed from the team for conduct issues. With one fell swoop, all of the Bearcats’ hopes for a seemingly guaranteed repeat title dropped to zero.

3. Men’s tennis wins America East tournament, ranked No. 47 in nation

The men’s tennis team was supposed to be good, but nobody saw this coming. We’re talking about a team featuring the AE Player, Coach of the Year and Rookie of the Year, all six first team, All-Conference spots for singles, two of the three first team, All-Conference spots for doubles and after winning the AE tournament, a berth in the NCAA tournament. Oh, and Sven Vloedgraven is the first Binghamton player to earn a spot in the NCAA Division I singles championship.

2. Binghamton men’s basketball removed from the AE tournament

With all the negative publicity from the basketball scandal and the loss of nearly every key member of the championship team, people were saying the men’s basketball team would be lucky to win a game. Instead they went 8-8 and earned the fifth spot in the conference tournament. As the campus began to get excited about basketball again, though, the controversial decision was made to pull out of the AE tournament, leaving fans confused about why current players were punished for the mistakes of others.

1. Wrestling team earns six spots in the NCAA tournament, produces another All-American

Wrestling at Binghamton used to be a side story, until Josh Patterson became the school’s first All-American last year. This year, the team exceeded that. After beating powerhouses Old Dominion and Hofstra to win the CAA tournament, Binghamton set a school record by sending six wrestlers to the NCAA, and then Justin Lister finished fourth in his bracket to earn All-American honors. All this added up to a historic No. 21 finish at the tournament. This team has truly been the story of the year.