BOSTON, Mass. – Binghamton came away with four first-place finishes at Day One of the America East Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday at the Boston Track & Tennis Center. Heading into the final day of the meet, the Bearcat men sit in second place out of 10 teams (after six events) while the women are in six place.

Senior Casey Gribben won his third straight America East men's pole vault title, recording a personal-best jump of 15-9. He is the first Binghamton athlete – male or female – to three-peat in an event at a conference meet since Jon Alkins won the men's indoor 200 championships from 2014-17.

Fellow senior Jake Restivo took top honors in the men's long jump with a distance of 23-10 ¾. Not only was it his first career conference title but also the first time Binghamton has ever won a long jump title at an America East meet. Restivo won the IC4A outdoor championship last spring.

The day concluded with Binghamton sweeping both the men's and women's Distance Medley Relay titles. The women won it for the second time in a row while the men captured their fourth championship in the past 10 conference meets – with the most recent victory coming in 2018.

It took a dramatic 3:56.13 1,600 split by graduate student Dan Schaffer to rally the Bearcat men's DMR team to the victory. He passed Derek Holmes of UMass Lowell on the final straightaway to finish off a meet-record performance of 9:42.03. The previous mark of 9:42.99 was set by Albany in 2009 and was tied by the Holmes and the River Hawks on Friday.

Other members of the first-place men's Distance Medley Relay team were redshirt freshman Sean Ryan, senior Andriy Prokopiv and redshirt sophomore Mark Scanlon.

There was far less drama in the women's Distance Medley Relay. By the time graduate student Emily Mackay got the baton to run the 1,600 anchor leg, the Bearcats already had an insurmountable lead. She then cruised home with a 4:46.47 split to seal the win. The Bearcats final time of 11:37.87 was 27 seconds better than runner-up New Hampshire (12:04.82).

Other member of the women's Distance Medley Relay team included seniors Aziza Chigatayeva and Stephanie Cassens as well as freshman Hillary Abankwa. Earlier in the day, Cassens clocked the fastest women's 500 time in the preliminaries (1:14.06) while Abankwa posted the fifth-fastest 400 time (56.65).

Freshman Jenna Chan had an impressive opening day at the conference meet. Not only did she take second in the long jump (18-9 ¼) but she also posted the fastest 60 hurdles time (8.55) in the preliminaries. In the process, she broke the Binghamton program record of 8.65, which was set by Elly Scherer in 2019.

Also finishing in the top three of an individual event – which meets the criteria for all-conference honors – was junior Brandon Love, who was third in the men's pole vault (15-3).

The second and final day of the America East Indoor Championships begins Saturday at 9 a.m.

TOP MEN'S RESULTS
Casey Gribben, 1st, Pole Vault (15-9)
Jake Restivo, 1st, Long Jump (23-10 ¾)
DMR, 1st (9:42.03) – Meet Record
Ryan, Prokopiv, Scanlon, Schaffer
Brandon Love, 3rd, Pole Vault (15-3)
Marcus Johnson, 4th, Long Jump (23-6)
Jaston Ormsby, 4th, Weight Throw (54-2 ¾)
James McCabe, 5th, Weight Throw (52-5 ½)
Josh Stone, 7th, 5,000 (14:20.48)

WOMEN'S TOP RESULTS
DMR, 1st (11:37.87)
Chigateyeva, Abankwa, Cassens, Mackay
Jenna Chan, 2nd, Long Jump (18-9 ¼)
Mallorie Turner, 6th, Long Jump (17-10 ¼)
Carolyn Burnell, 7th, 5,000 (17:44.40)
Madison Krochina, 8th, Weight Throw (53-5)