VESTAL, N.Y. Senior Vasili Papastrat was fifth in the men s race and junior Collin Frost was ninth, leading Binghamton to a runner-up finish at the America East Cross Country Championships on Saturday. The Bearcat women s team placed ninth overall. The meet was run on Binghamton s home course for the first time since 2005.

Binghamton recorded its highest finish at the America East meet since also placing second in 2010. With 65 points, the Bearcats placed a close second to UMBC (58) in the team standings and nearly won the title for the first time since 2009. Stony Brook (70) and New Hampshire (72) were the next two teams in the standings.

I was very pleased with how the men ran today,” head coach Annette Acuff said. Vasili and Collin ran very well and we had five guys in the top 21.”

Papastrat earned all-conference honors for the second time in three seasons, clocking a time of 25:13 on the men s 8,000-meter course. Two years ago, he was ninth in the race before redshirting last season.

Frost, meanwhile, made his first appearance on the all-conference team, recording a time of 25:18. Graduate student Jeff Martinez was 13th (25:25), sophomore Ethan Hausamann was 17th (25:35) and junior Matt Johnson was 21st (25:40).

Top individual honors in the men s race went to John Prizzi of New Hampshire (24:55). There were 87 runners in the event.

On the women s side, sophomore Alexis Hatcher was the Bearcats top finisher, covering the 5,000-meter course in a time of 19:01. She placed 23rd overall. Senior Caitlin Jelinek was 39th (19:30).

Alexis has been battling injuries this year and only started racing again last week,” Acuff said. It was good to see her come back like she did today.”

Olivia Burne of Stony Brook won the women s race (17:30), but the Seawolves were second to New Hampshire in the team standings.

Up next for Binghamton is the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet, which takes place Nov. 15 at Van Cortlandt Park.

NOTES: Papastrat is the fourth Binghamton men s runner to earn all-conference honors twice during his career. The other three were Martinez (2009 and 2010), Erik van Ingen (2008 and 2009) and Chris Gaube (2008, 2009 and 2010)