With less than a month to go before the America East (AE) Conference championships kickoff, the Binghamton track and field teams traveled to the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge at The Fort Washington Avenue Armory in New York City.

“It’s a very competitive meet and we were sending our top distance runners and sprinters to get fast times on the oval,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “We were unable to compete [in] the Friday portion of the meet … That stuff was taken away from us due to the weather. We couldn’t travel.”

Returning to The Armory for the second week in a row was redshirt senior Dan Schaffer, who competed in the invitational section of the men’s 3K. The Bearcat clocked in at 7:53.74 in the event, edging out Libyan 2016 Olympic contender Mohamed Hrezi by a tenth of a second to take first overall. Schaffer’s winning time is currently within the top 25 best collegiate 3K performances of the season and marks a program record in the race.

In the college men’s 3K event held earlier on Saturday, five Bearcats partook in the race. Junior Ryan Guerci took second overall with a time of 8:06.44, falling just over two seconds behind the first-placed runner. Guerci’s 3K indoor time is the third fastest among all BU athletes in program history.

Junior Marty Dolan came closest to Guerci’s time in the 32-man race, registering a time of 8:27.19 to take 15th. Redshirt senior David Leff was right behind him in 16th place with a time of 8:28.06.

Besides Guerci and Schaffer, freshman Joey Cardascia was the only other Bearcat to post a top-six finish at The Armory on Saturday. The freshman competed in the college 400-meter dash and crossed the finish line with a time of 48.50. Cardascia narrowly edged out the seventh-place UAlbany finisher by three one-thousandths of a second to take sixth overall.

“It helps having a young guy come in who trains really hard and competes really hard not just because the times are good, but because it sets an example for everybody on the team,” Thompson said. “[Cardascia] is a great athlete, not just talent-wise, but attitude, work ethic, the whole deal. He’s always ready to go, no excuses and he just runs hard every time.”

The Bearcats have two more meets scheduled before the AE championships. Thompson seems confident in his lineup heading into this year’s competition.

“I honestly think we can be in the top three on the men’s and women’s side with the way things look like now,” Thompson said. “Our sprinters and distance runners are running very well right now, and if our field event people step up and do what they’re capable of doing, I think top three is very realistic.”

Up next in the Binghamton slate is the David Hemery Valentine Invitational hosted by Boston University. The two-day event is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 11 and Saturday, Feb. 12. The meet is set to start at 10 a.m. at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston, Massachusetts.