With the America East Indoor Championships right around the corner, the Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams sent athletes to meets at Iowa State, Boston College and Cornell University in final preparation for next weekend’s major event.

Redshirt junior Dan Schaffer was the only Bearcat to compete at the Iowa State Classic, taking on the 5K last Friday in the invitational section. Clocking in at 14:31.28, Schaffer finished 14th overall against fierce competition. Had he run his previous record of 14:03.06, it would not have placed him within the top 10.

The David Hemery Valentine Invitational extended over two days for the Bearcats. Friday’s competition was highlighted by senior Emily Mackay, who managed to shave seven seconds off her previous school mile record, clocking in at 4:46.38 and finishing 28th out of 250 runners. Sophomore Dominique Jackson ran the 60-meter invitational and clocked in at 7.79 in the preliminaries. In the finals, however, Jackson ran a time of 7.90 and took ninth place.

Senior Greg Matzelle was Binghamton’s top men’s finisher on Saturday, opening up the 60-meter invitational preliminaries at 6.85 to top the results. Coming back for the finals, Matzelle ran 6.86 to take fourth overall. Freshman Marty Dolan placed fifth in the unseeded 5K, clocking in at 14:57:27 among 73 competing runners.

At Cornell’s Sunday Invitational, senior Andrew Garabito took first in the 500-meter with a time of 1:08.51. However, few schools actually competed at the meet. Freshman Zhanna Green delivered a promising 8.11 in the 60-meter final for the women’s side, taking second overall. Sophomore Madison Krochina took second in the weight throw after her 51-11 feet performance.

Next Friday and Saturday, the Bearcats will compete in the AE Indoor Championships, starting at 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21 at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.