More than 400 student-athletes from each of Binghamton’s 21 varsity teams converged in the Events Center last Wednesday for the annual student-athlete Welcome Back Barbecue. Although some teams had already begun training earlier this month, the barbecue served as a formal welcome for all student-athletes to start off the academic year.
The 2015-16 year was very successful for BU, both academically and athletically. The Binghamton baseball and softball teams won the America East (AE) regular-season title and the baseball team advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The men’s soccer team made its first trip to the conference final since 2008. Thanks to these achievements, Binghamton finished third in the AE’s Commissioner’s Cup, in which member institutions are ranked by the success of their athletic teams. In addition, the Bearcats came in second in the AE Academic Cup, which is awarded to the school with the highest cumulative GPA among its student-athletes for that academic year. The Bearcats recorded an average 3.21 GPA during the 2015-16 school year.
The Binghamton athletics department hopes for continued improvement on the field and in the classroom.
“It’s a new beginning,” Director of Athletics Patrick Elliott said. “Based upon last year, we had a strong athletics finish but we also had a very strong academic finish. The spring 2016 semester cumulative GPA was the best semester we ever had.”
With the seniors from the 2015-2016 gone and many new student-athletes in the program, adjustments will have to be made to repeat and surpass the achievements of last year. In her address to the crowd, senior softball pitcher Shelby Donhauser, a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member, made the point that it is the responsibility of returning students to lead their new teammates.
“I have been given a lot of opportunity in Binghamton,” Donhauser said. “I hope that I can be a leader for [the freshmen] and show them that it’s a good thing to get involved, especially in the community.”
While it will be no easy task for the Bearcats to repeat or improve upon last year’s accomplishments, it was evident at the barbecue that the Bearcats believe they can do just that.