The Binghamton men’s and women’s cross country teams began their fall season over the weekend, competing at the Colgate/Harry Lang Invitational. The men’s team finished fourth out of the five teams at the meet, and the women’s team finished fifth out of five.

“We didn’t take our entire team,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “We just took a few kids to compete for this opening week because most of our team is still training because we just started a couple of weeks ago. So it was really kind of a low-key meet for us in terms of an opener.”

Twelve Bearcats competed at the invitational, with six runners representing the men’s team and six representing the women’s. Senior Matthew Cavaliere and sophomore Zoe Rose were BU’s top finishers at the meet. Cavaliere clocked a time of 21:14.0 and placed 20th out of 54 in the men’s 6.4k. Rose finished 32nd out of 49 in the women’s 4.8k with a time of 19:35.3.

“[Cavaliere], who was our top finisher, has been injured since last spring,” Acuff said. “Coming back, he really hasn’t been able to plug in a whole lot of training. So today he just kind of ran it as a tempo workout. But he still ran pretty well … He should be in our top five this year.”

Three freshmen competed in their first races as Bearcats during the invitational. Freshmen Andrew Rosenblatt, Austin Wefer and Wyeth Semo all registered their first times as BU athletes during the men’s 6.4k. Rosenblatt clocked in at 22:08.5 to finish 32nd in the race, while Wefer and Semo finished 36th and 37th, respectively. Wefer finished with a time of 22:17.7 and Semo at 22:23.5.

“We had three freshmen men that went,” Acuff said. “It’s a good opener for them because it’s a four-mile race and not a five-mile race, because most high school boys only run a 5k in high school. So then in college, they run an 8k, so this was only a four-mile race. So it’s a nice kind of stepping stone into collegiate racing.”

On the women’s side, two runners finished in the top 40 along with Rose. Junior Scarlett Jekic and senior Claire Brenner placed 35th and 38th in the women’s 4.8k, respectively. Jekic clocked in a time of 20:02.2 while Brenner finished shortly behind her at 20:15.7.

“I think all of those girls had good performances today on the women’s side,” Acuff said. “A lot of those girls I thought ran really well. So I think it was a great, neat experience for them … I think a lot of them had a pretty good start to their season. So overall, we were pleased with how the meet went for all of them.”

Binghamton’s next meet will take place in two weeks where they will travel to the Bronx for the John “Paddy” Doyle Iona Meet of Champions. The first race will take place on Friday, Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, NY.