Winter Sports Round-Up

By Mike Warwick

Men's Basketball

A 7-1 end-of-season run left the Bombers with an 18-10 record for the year — only three Ithaca teams have ever won more games — and the program’s first Eastern College Athletic Conference Upstate New York championship. Ithaca won the ECAC title with three playoff wins, including an upset of top seed State University of New York College at Brockport in the semi-finals. The next day Ithaca withstood a last-second shot by Union College to celebrate the championship.

Individually, nearly all of the season’s highlights were provided by senior guard Pat Britton (pictured) — the first Bomber ever to be named first-team all-American. A third-team academic all-American, one of 10 finalists for the Josten’s Trophy player of the year award, and the Empire Eight’s player of the year, Britton finished his career with 1,503 points (third on Ithaca’s list) and set school records for highest free-throw percentage in a season (89.0) and career (84.5). Another senior guard, Ryan Bamford, joined Britton as a 1,000-point scorer and finished the season with 80 three-point baskets and 191 in his career (both school records). Ithaca’s top underclassmen included freshman center Jason Wallen and sophomore point guard Dane Fischer.

Women's Basketball

First-year coach Jennifer Krol (left) enjoyed one of the most successful rookie seasons of any coach in women’s basketball, leading Ithaca to a share of first place in the Empire Eight (tying with St. John Fisher), the New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association championship, and the ECAC Upstate New York title. The team’s 21 wins were only one short of the school record and gave Kroll — the league’s coach of the year — the second highest victory total of any first-year coach in Division III women’s basketball history.

Freshman point guard Kerri Brown and senior center Shari Wilkins (right) both earned all-conference honors. Brown, the only freshman on the Empire Eight all-star team, set school freshman records with 13.6 points and 3.4 assists per game. Wilkins averaged 13.0 points and 7.4 rebounds a game and became the 21st player to block 200 career shots. Junior forward Kelly Brady was the team’s top rebounder (10.0 per game) and was named most valuable player of the ECAC tournament. She had also earned MVP honors in 1998 after help-ing the Bombers to that year’s title.

Men's Diving and Swimming

For the 16th time in the past 20 years, Ithaca won at least 10 dual meets; the Bombers’ 13-2 record left them one short of the school record. The team won Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Henry Kumpf Invitational for the second year in a row and finished sixth at the state championship. Ithaca has finished sixth or better at that meet every year since 1980.

One of the season’s top accomplishments came at the state meet, where sophomore Dave Balta won the 100-yard butterfly, placed second in the 200-yard butterfly, and took third in the 500-yard freestyle. Balta became the first Bomber in four years to win a state championship; he recorded an NCAA qualifying time in the 200-yard butterfly. Freshman Devin Fay placed third in the one-meter diving competition and sixth in the three-meter competition. The 400-yard medley relay team of Balta, sophomore Mike Esper, senior Rob Finne, and junior Ryan Spencer finished fifth. The same men took fourth in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:36.87.

Women's Diving and Swimming

The Bombers overcame heavy graduation losses from last year’s seventh-place NCAA team to post another successful season. A second-place finish at the state championships and a dual-meet record were among the high points of the winter. Seniors Laura Maring and Jenn Souder (left), junior Karen Roll, and sophomore Denise Trombini all posted NCAA qualifying times during the season, and Souder went on to earn all-American honors in the 100-yard breaststroke. Souder’s ninth all-American performance of her career followed her state championship in the same event.

Ithaca recorded five other top-five finishes: Trombini took second in the 1,650-yard freestyle; junior Emily Schweitzer placed fourth in the three-meter diving and fifth in the one-meter diving; Roll finished fifth in the 200-yard backstroke; the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Souder, junior Lisa Weinwurm, and freshmen Erin Shackelton and Kim Van Pelt took second; and the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Souder, Weinwurm, Van Pelt, and sophomore Jen Peck placed fourth.

Men's Indoor Track and Field

Ithaca maintained its streak of top-10 finishes at the state championship (14 in a row — every year that Jim Nichols has coached). The Bombers’ seventh-place showing featured a pair of runner-up finishes: sophomore Kyle Robison in the high jump and senior Mike Henn in the 55-meter dash. The 800-meter relay team of Henn, junior Matt Hopp (right), senior Jason Kucma, and junior Jon Woika finished third. Freshman Dale Cocca finished third in the 1,000-meter run, and his twin brother, Brian Cocca, took fourth in the 800-meter run. Sophomores Drew Davidson and Adam Wille recorded fifth-place finishes in the shot put and 800-meter run, respectively. The distance medley relay team of junior Josh Egan, senior Ian Golden, Hopp, and freshman Garrett Wagner set a school record during the season and took second at the ECAC championship.

Women's Indoor Track and Field

Ithaca enjoyed one of the program’s most successful seasons this winter. The Bombers won a third straight state title, broke school records in seven events, and posted NCAA qualifying performances in six events. The season was capped by two all-American showings at the NCAA championships. Senior Courtney Smith placed fourth in the 400-meter dash, and junior Lauren Byler took fourth in the 800-meter run (both set school records at nationals), leading Ithaca to a 17th-place team finish — the team’s second-best showing ever.

Smith and Byler both ran on the distance medley relay team that set a school record, and Smith broke the Ithaca record in the 200-meter dash as well. Ithaca’s other record-breaking performances came from junior Christine Dittrich in the triple jump and senior Erin Stevens in the shot put and the 20-pound weight throw. 

Photos by Tim McKinney