A season that has been marked by the teams’ ascension to the top echelon of their sport continued that trend this weekend.

Binghamton University’s cross country teams competed at the Lehigh Paul Short Run this weekend, highlighted by the men’s team finishing 20th out of 45 teams. The prestigious race attracts competitive programs from around the nation.

“We were facing a stacked field of incredible programs,” said head coach Annette Acuff. “We did excellent competing with top programs from both the Northeast and the Great Lakes.”

Sophomore Erik van Ingen led the men’s team to its best finish at this race, improving on a 24th-place finish last year and a 35th-place finish just two years ago. Van Ingen finished 42nd out of a field of 298. He crossed the 8,000-meter course in 24:37.

“Erik ran what he wanted to run,” Acuff said. “It was the best meet our men’s program has ever had.”

Following van Ingen was junior Chris Gaube, who finished 92nd with a time of 25:04. Rounding out the top five for the Bearcats were sophomores Adam Ugolino, Adam Quinn and Casey Quaglia, finishing 108th, 122nd and 162nd, respectively.

BU has been steadily improving each season as a team thanks to the individual commitments of its members. Ugolino, for example, ran 51 seconds faster this year compared to last, while Quinn ran 59 seconds faster this year. With the transfer of van Ingen and Gaube coming back from an injury, the result was overwhelming team improvement.

“We weren’t even 100 percent this weekend,” Acuff said. “We’re still missing Adam Hill and he will be top seven for us.”

The women’s team was led by senior Jamie Schulte, who finished 106th out of 301 runners, completing the 6,000-meter course in 22:16. She led her team to a 31st place finish out of 43 teams.

“It was Jamie’s best collegiate cross country race,” Acuff said. “Especially considering the competitiveness of the field.”

Following Schulte was sophomore Ashley Horton, who finished 135th with a time of 22:36. Rounding out the top five for BU was sophomore Alicia Finger, sophomore Paulina Nunez and senior Jennifer Hastings.

”They ran great races,” Acuff said of the women’s team. “Especially dealing with all the injuries we have, we had a great performance.”

The team was without senior lead runner Katie Radzik, who is nursing an injury, and injuries to Sarah Veith, who is red-shirting this season, and Kelly Billingiere have left the team short of what they had last season.

“We’re missing three of our top five from last season,” Acuff said. “They are running at their full potential now and we will look to be getting back to the level where we can seriously compete in the region.”

The men’s team will head to the Penn State National Open on Oct. 17, while the women’s squad will next head to the Albany Invitational on Oct. 18.

“Penn State is an upgrade in our schedule,” Acuff said. “It will be a very competitive meet for our team.”