With the weather slowly getting warmer in the Northeast, action is heating up for the Binghamton University men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams. The squads earned five first-place finishes in each of their past two meets, the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic and the Cornell Upstate Challenge.

At the non-scoring Bison Outdoor Classic on April 15-16, two pole-vaulters recorded championship-qualifying heights. Sophomore Jenna Marrione won the women’s pole vault title with a height of 12-5.5, setting a new school record. The previous record was 12-2, which was set in 2001 by Kate Mullins, a former Division II All-American. Marrione’s performance met the ECAC standard. Junior Robb Quiller captured the men’s pole vault title with a height of 16-4.75, which is an IC4A-qualifying performance.

There were two other champions on the women’s side. Freshman Kelly Abbate earned the 3,000-meter crown with a time of 10:46.21, and sophomore Ashley AuPont won the high jump with a height of 5-5. Junior Nelson Hall finished in a six-way tie for first place in the men’s high jump with a height of 6-2.25.

The Bearcats also notched a runner-up performance in both the men’s and women’s meets. Sophomore Casey Gilbert clocked a time of 54.96 in the men’s 400 hurdles, while freshman Sara Wickes recorded a jump of 35-8.75 in the women’s triple jump.

Two men broke school records that they each previously set last year. Sophomore Jeff Martinez finished the 5,000-meter with a time of 14:22.69, which was good for fourth place in the event and met the IC4A qualifying standard. His old mark was 14:26.58. Senior Adam Quinn’s time of 9:08.50 in the men’s 3,000 steeplechase was good for third place and also met the IC4A standard. The mark he set last year was 9:18.59.

Quinn’s new record stood for about a week as he broke his own record once again at the Cornell Upstate Challenge this weekend. He blew his record out of the water, posting a time of 9:01.08, which was good for ninth place in the event.

The men’s team finished in fourth place out of six at Cornell, while the women placed fifth. Senior Cazal Arnett took home the men’s 400-meter title with a time of 48.03 and also anchored the first-place 4×400 relay team, which recorded an IC4A-qualifying mark and a facility record with a time of 3:11.82. Gilbert and seniors Andy Haupt and Christian Smith rounded out the relay squad.

Two Bearcats swept the men’s and women’s pole vault titles for the second week in a row. However, a different pair won crowns at Cornell. Sophomore Adam Helman recorded a height of 15-9 while freshman Camille Ginyard recorded 11-3.75.

AuPont won the women’s high jump for the second straight week, besting her performance from last week with a height of 5-7, which tied the school record set by Crystal Joseph in 1986. Joseph was a three-time Division III All-American. The height also met the ECAC qualifying standard.

Fresh off his All-American indoor campaign, senior Erik van Ingen made his 2011 outdoor debut, recording an IC4A-qualifying time of 1:49.83 in the men’s 800-meter. He finished in sixth place in the event.

Select members from the men’s and women’s squads will compete in the Penn Relays, which are set to begin Thursday and finish on Saturday. Others are set to head back to Cornell on Sunday for the Cornell Big Red Invitational, which is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start.