History was made at the America East (AE) Championship meet on Friday, with the Binghamton women’s cross country team leaving Maine as AE champions for the first time in program history. With three all-conference runners, the team beat out eight other programs to secure the title. Meanwhile, the Binghamton men’s cross-country team secured a fourth-place overall finish in the 8k.

“It’s been 10 years since we won a championship and the last time we did it was the men’s team in Maine,” said Binghamton head coach Annette Acuff. “A lot of the team was like, ‘Oh gosh, we gotta go all the way up to Maine’ and I said, ‘Listen, Maine has been good to us’. I’ve been saying Maine’s been good to us all fall and it was.”

After sitting out the Canisius Alumni Classic to prepare for the AE Championship, graduate student Sophia Ryan returned to action with a fourth-place result in the 82-runner women’s 5k field. Ryan clocked in a time of 17:46.00 to achieve the result and also earned her second consecutive AE all-conference first-team placement.

“I was kind of hoping for a little more, but I’m just happy I got to hang in just as long as I could and just focus on more of a team outcome,” Ryan said. “I knew that finishing in the top five would put us in a really good spot to do well as a team and get the result that we were hoping for.”

Securing second consecutive AE all-conference first-team honors alongside Ryan was sophomore Sydney Leitner, crossing the line in 18:13.36 to place seventh. Freshman Brynn Hogan, meanwhile, slotted herself onto the AE all-conference second team with a 13th-place finish, clocking in a time of 18:37.01. Also in the top 20 overall for BU was junior Jennifer Mui, who crossed the finish line with a time of 18:43.80, good enough for a 17th-place finish.

With a cumulative team score of 69 points, the Bearcat women won their first-ever AE championship. The team joined the AE for cross country in 2001 and over the last 23 years, its previous best finish for the women was a runner-up result in 2022. This marks Binghamton cross country’s third AE title overall under Coach Acuff, their first in nine years.

“The accomplishment is huge for a lot of people,” Acuff said. “23 years is a long time to wait to win a cross country championship … and if you look at the women’s program, they’ve continued to climb the ladder within the conference over the past four years, and we had some individuals who have done very well in the conference and regionally.”

Over on the men’s side, senior Josh Stone and fifth-year Ryan Guerci spearheaded the Bearcat men’s fourth-place overall effort, as the team finished with 97 points. Both runners earned AE all-conference first-team honors alongside career-best AE championship finishes, with Stone earning a bronze medal in the men’s 8k with a time of 24:31.20 while Guerci punched in a 24:46.90 to finish in 7th. This marks Guerci’s third career all-conference selection, tying him for first place all-time in the men’s program.

“They’ve had a great year,” Acuff said. “And … to give [Guerci] a lot of credit, he’s been all-conference three out of the four times that he’s competed at the [AE] meet. So I’m really proud of him and [Stone] stepping up from last year and finishing third. You know, I think both of them quite honestly had about as good of days as they were going to.”

For her team’s efforts on Friday, Acuff was awarded the AE women’s coaching staff of the year honors, the third overall awarded under Acuff and the first for the women’s team. Notably, Acuff achieved the award despite coaching without an assistant coach for the entire season.

“It’s just her manning both the men’s team and the women’s team,” Ryan said. “So … she’s had to step up this year and continue to just be such a great coach to every single person on the team. For her to get the coaching staff of the year award with just her on the coaching staff is really special. I think that meant a lot to us as a team to have her be recognized for all the hard work that she’s put in.”

With the AE conference meet now concluded, Binghamton will move on to the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet. The time of the first race is to be determined and will be held on Friday, Nov. 10 at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, NY.