Wrapping up a record year with a strong conference meet seems fitting.

The Binghamton University cross country teams traveled to Oregon Ridge Park in Baltimore, Md. for the America East Cross Country Championships this weekend. The men’s team finished third which was a record for the program since its jump to Division I. The women finished sixth out of the nine schools in attendance.

“Overall it was a very good meet,” head coach Annette Acuff said. “We had some really great individual races.”

BU junior Chris Gaube led the way for the men’s team and BU sophomore Erik Van Ingen was right on his heels as they finished third and fourth place, respectively, out of 76 runners.

Both were named on the All-Conference first team and broke the previous record for the highest finish at a men’s championship race. The previous record was set in 2001 by Matt Dresser when he finished ninth.

“Both Chris and Erik ran exactly what we were hoping,” Acuff said. “We figured Stony Brook would go one and two; so we got what we wanted.”

Gaube finished with a time of 25:45 while Van Ingen finished with a time of 25:49. BU sophomores Adam Quinn and Casey Quaglia placed 13th and 33rd, respectively. Rounding out the scoring for Binghamton was junior Jonathan Peffley who finished 36th.

New Hampshire won the men’s race and Stony Brook grabbed second.

“We needed a few other guys to really have a shot at New Hampshire,” Acuff said. “Casey [Quaglia] wasn’t at 100 percent and able to perform his best.”

The men’s team had a strong showing from their top three runners that had them competing for the lead. However, injuries kept them from having their best runners out on the course.

In her last AE championship, senior Jamie Schulte led the women’s team to its sixth place finish, placing 24th out of 76 runners. She crossed the finish line in 18:42 on the 5,000-meter course.

“On the women’s side they ran the best they could,” Acuff said. “We did the best we could with who we had out there. Health was an issue.”

The sophomore threesome of Alicia Finger, Ashley Horton and Renee Blair followed Schulte finishing in 26th, 27th and 30th, respectively.

“They all extremely improved from the last time we ran this course earlier this season,” Acuff said. “Renee and Alicia both had close to a minute improvement and Ashley improved by about 30 seconds.”

Stony Brook won the women’s race with a strong score of 29 points.

With the loss of Katie Radzik mid-season and various injuries keeping out runners on the women’s side, the Bearcats were limited in their competitiveness this season.

“We lost Katie this year from a team that finished fourth last year,” Acuff said. Health and injury issues contributed to the team’s fall from a fifth place finish last season to sixth place this year.

Both teams have very young runners and this brings a certain sense of hope and confidence to the program. Van Ingen and Gaube both have sophomore standing and have potentially two more years left with the program.

“We have a lot of sophomores, and it looks promising,” Acuff said. “We are very excited [about] what we can do next year.”

The teams regroup and prepare for the NCAA Northeast regional on Saturday, Sept. 15, held in Bronx, N.Y.