The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge — finishing ninth and 14th respectively. In a field featuring 26 teams, several Bearcats finished in the top 10 of their respective events.

“I feel like we’re just on a logical path toward being ready to go at the conference meet in a few weeks,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “So, I think everybody is right where they should be.”

Sophomore Alyssa Armitage tied the women’s school record in the pole vault, recording a distance of 12-9.5 feet and placing third in the event. Sophomore Angie Mesa-Espinosa took sixth place in the 60 meter event with a time of 7.83. Also finishing in the top 10 in the 60 meters was freshman Dami Modupe with a time of 7.86 — good enough for eighth place. Graduate students Gabby Hyatt and Sophia Morone also finished in the top 10 with times of 7.89 and 7.90 respectively.

In addition, junior Hillary Abankwa finished fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 56.32. Freshman Alexa Colondona finished in fourth in the Pentathlon 60 meter hurdles with a distance of 9.14 and sophomore Logan Wheeler finished in 10th in the same event with a distance of 9.67. In the Pentathlon high jump, Wheeler also placed second with a distance of 1.58m. The women finished the two-day event tied for 14th overall with a score of 11.

“I think [Armitage] in the pole vault, she had a great day [and senior Brandon Love] also had a very good meet in the pole vault,” Thompson said. “The 400 runners’ men and women did very well — you know, long spears — also in the 200 and 400, [the] runners [did] very well across the board.”

On the men’s side, senior Marcus Johnson competed in the triple jump and placed second with a distance of 48-10.25. In the pole vault, Love placed third with a mark of 16-0.75. Also finishing in third was redshirt freshman Brian Luciano in the weight throw with a distance of 64-11.5 feet. In addition, senior Josh Stone competed in the 3,000 with a time of 8:12.87 and placed seventh. Junior Oliver Madariaga competed in two events and finished in the top 10 in both. Madariaga finished fourth in the 200 with a time of 22.04 and sixth in the 400 with a time of 49.29.

“[Johnson] particularly had a really good meet with his best triple jump in two years and his best 400 in two years, so, he really stood out as well,” Thompson said. “I thought overall it was a pretty solid meet.”

Sophomore Samson Joseph finished eighth in the 200 with a time of 22.16, and junior Joey Cardascia placed 10th with a time of 22.28. Cardascia also placed eighth in the 400 with a time of 49.36, with Johnson behind him in 10th with a time of 49.71. The men finished in ninth overall with a cumulative score of 27.

“Basically, what we do is we build up the training from the first week of practice when we come back through about this upcoming week, and then we’ll start gradually backing off,” Thompson said. “So, that when they get to the conference meet, they’ll not be as tired, and we’ll train a little bit less and with the goal of them feeling better and more recovered when we compete at conference.”

Binghamton will now set its sights on the Sykes and Sabock Challenge, which begins on Saturday, Feb. 3. First event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Penn State Ashenfelter Track in University Park, Pennsylvania.