Team and individual accomplishments
Binghamton records highest-ever finish in Director’s Cup
On the strength of four NCAA tournament teams in 2012-13, Binghamton athletics has recorded its highest-ever finish in the national Learfield Sports Director’s Cup standings. The Bearcats placed 141st out of 345 Division I programs in the all-sports competition, which awards points for national finishes in up to 20 sports. Stanford captured the Cup title, followed by Florida, UCLA, Michigan and Texas A&M in the top five.
Binghamton finished among the top 41 percent of Division I programs across the country and improved upon its best previous finish of 144, set in 2003-04.
The Bearcats (117 pts.) received Cup points from wrestling (32nd place, 42 points), volleyball (33rd place, 25 pts.), men’s tennis (33rd place, 25 pts.) and baseball (49th place, 25 pts.)
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Men’s tennis claims another title in online “Fan Poll”
Third-seeded men’s tennis made it 2-for-2, pouring it on over the final weekend of voting to defeat top-seeded baseball in the Fan Poll for 2012-13 “Moment of the Year.”
The battle of America East conference champions drew a record 1,606 unique voters to bubearcats.com and men’s tennis pulled away from a deadlock in the final two days of the contest, registering 65 percent of the final vote. It secured the second straight Fan Poll title for men’s tennis, which has another more impressive streak of six straight America East championships on its team resume. That streak is the second-longest current streak in any sport in the conference.
The Fan Poll, which spanned the month of July, featured the top-8 moments for Binghamton athletics during the 2012-13 school year in a seeded, bracket-style format.
Sophomore tennis star Hazarika earns national ranking
Sophomore men’s tennis standout Sid Hazarika has cracked the national rankings for the first time. Hazarika, starting just his second semester of tennis at Binghamton, moved into the ITA Preseason Rankings at No. 122. It’s the first time that a Binghamton underclassman has been nationally-ranked.
“It’s nice to see Sid rewarded for a good spring semester,” head coach Adam Cohen said. “I’m looking forward to having him improve upon that success and raise his standing in the region and the national rankings. For a sophomore to be ranked − especially after just one semester − is quite an accomplishment. It’s also good recognition for our program. Hopefully this will continue to motivate Sid to keep raising the level of his game.”
Hazarika went 21-4 last spring and was named the ITA Northeast Region Rookie of the Year. He also was selected as the America East Player and Rookie of the Year after leading the Bearcats to their sixth consecutive conference crown.
Championship men’s tennis team has six scholar-athletes
The final honor of the 2012-13 year has been bestowed upon the Binghamton men’s tennis team with the release of the ITA academic honors.
The Bearcats landed six individuals on the ITA Scholar-Athlete list and earned All-Academic Team distinction as well. Receiving individual honors for maintaining a 3.5 or higher GPA were sophomore Florian van Kann (3.93), freshman Alexander Maisin (3.73), junior Ruben Haggai (3.68), junior Harry Lee (3.63), sophomore Ismael Dinia (3.52) and sophomore Michael Gross (3.51).
Tennis standout Haggai named America East Scholar-Athlete
Binghamton men’s tennis player Ruben Haggai has been selected by the America East as its Scholar-Athlete for the sport of men’s tennis. Haggai joins fellow Bearcat Jessica Bump (softball) in earning the spring sport honor. In all, Binghamton produced three scholar-athletes during the 2012-13 year (Grace Vickers, volleyball).
Haggai becomes the fifth straight Bearcat men’s tennis player to receive the top honor from the America East, following three-time recipient Sven Vloedgraven (2009-11) and older brother Alexandre Haggai last season. The Most Outstanding Player at the America East Championship one month ago, Ruben Haggai went 22-9 in singles and helped lead the Bearcats to their sixth consecutive conference title. He finished the year on a 14-match win streak.
Haggai owns a 3.75 GPA in the School of Management and is a two-time member of the America East All-Academic Tennis Team. He is also an America East Commissioner’s List and Binghamton AD Honor Roll recipient.