|
For Immediate
Release: October 31, 2009
Contact: David O'Brian (dobrian@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6478
Binghamton
men's cross country wins first-ever America East championship
[Men's
full results...]
[Women's
full results...]
[Photos...]
[Men's
Race Video...]
[Men's Interviews
and celebration...]
[women's Race
Video...]
BURLINGTON, Vt.--The Binghamton
men's cross country team completed its amazing turnaround by
capturing its first-ever America East championships on Saturday
morning at the University of Vermont. In addition, junior Erik
van Ingen
became the first Binghamton runner to win the conference's individual
title. The Bearcat men won the nine-team meet while the women
were seventh. Furthermore, Annette Acuff and Joe Pienta were
named the America East Men's Cross Country Staff of the Year
for the first time in both of their careers.
Just three years after recording their second consecutive eighth-place
finish at the America East meet, the Bearcat men won the program's
first conference cross country title at any NCAA Division level.
Binghamton finished with 30 points, ahead of three-time defending
champion New Hampshire (60), Stony Brook (95) and University
at Albany (119).
van Ingen, meanwhile, is the first Binghamton runner to win an
individual cross country conference title since Art Gunther won
the SUNYAC meet in 1991 and 1992. He covered the 8,000-meter
course in a time of 25:18.70.
For van Ingen and the Bearcats, the meet was historic on another
level. The Bearcats are the first men's squad in nine years to
sweep both the individual and team championships at the America
East Meet. Boston University and Jochen Dieckfoss last attained
that honor in 2000.
With eight runners finishing among the top 21 in the race, Binghamton
left little doubt as to the meet's outcome. Graduate student
Chris
Gaube was second overall with a time of 25:26.10. It marks
the second year in a row he has finished in the top three. Junior
Casey
Quaglia was fourth (25:40.80) while freshman Jeff
Martinez placed 10th (26:01.70). Juniors Adam
Quinn clinched the win with a 13th-place finish (26:10.90).
Junior Andrew
Ugolino was 17th (26:21.00), freshman Evan
Bloomberg was 19th (26:24) and senior Craig Coon was 21st
(26:31). There were 81 runners in the nine-team race.
On the women's side, freshman Rachel
Miura was the Bearcats top finisher, placing 10th in the
5,000-meter race in a time of 19:01.80. She is the first Binghamton
female runner to earn all-conference honors since 2006.
Junior Sarah
Veith was 33rd (19:59.20), junior Alicia
Finger was 35th (20:10.20), freshman Lindsay
Raulli was 37th (20:12.30) and junior Paulina
Nunez was 39th (20:16.80).
Stony Brook won its third consecutive women's team championship.
Corey Conner, a sophomore from the University of Maine was the
individual winner with a time of 17:56.90.
Acuff, meanwhile, has been the head coach of both the Binghamton
men's and women's cross country programs since 2000. Since 2004,
she has had six all-conference selection on both the men's and
women's cross country squads. A 1995 graduate of Oklahoma, she
also serves as Binghamton's assistant track & field coach.
Binghamton heads to the NCAA Northeast Regional in Boston on
Nov. 14.
PLEASE NOTE: This marks the first year that Binghamton
has had runners from both the men's and women's squads earn America
East all-conference honors ... the Binghamton cross country program
began in 1950. Until 1997, Binghamton competed at the NCAA Division
III level, in the State University of New York Athletic Conference
(SUNYAC). From 1998-00, the program was at the NCAA Division
II level and was part of the New England College Conference.
In 2001, Binghamton moved up to the NCAA Division I level and
joined the America East Conference. |
