The men’s cross country program at Ithaca dates back to 1948, when coach Isadore “Doe” Yavits led the school’s first team. The Bombers competed against schools from New York and Pennsylvania over the next three years before the program took an eight-year hiatus.
Beginning in 1959, Ithaca faced an expanded schedule and began recording top-10 finishes at New York State’s Track and Field Association meet. John Coons was one of the team’s top performers during the 1960s; he took third at the state meet twice and was second once. During the 1960 season, he placed first at seven of Ithaca’s eight dual meets. Coons recorded 14 first-place finishes over his career. Robert Denoncourt took over as the team’s coach in 1961.
The Bombers recorded their first winning record in dual-meet competition in 1963 under coach Donald Read. Warren Campbell took third at the state meet that season. Merle “Mike” Greene assumed the reins as head coach in the 1965 season and remained until 1972. During Greene’s years as coach, one of the team’s top runners was Tom Williams. Williams set a school record by winning eight races in 1967 and set Ithaca’s course record (4.7 miles) of 26:04 that year. Ithaca began competing at the Independent College Athletic Conference (ICAC) championship meet over that period. Mike Post recorded a sixth-place finish in 1968.
After not fielding a team from 1972 to 1977, the Bombers returned to competition under the coaching direction of Gordon Eggleston, who coached the team until 1981.
Bill Ware took over as coach in 1982. The 1982 season saw Ithaca’s first qualifier for the NCAA Championships, when freshman Jim Quinn qualified as an individual. Quinn, who was inducted into the Ithaca College Hall of Fame in 2001, qualified three times for nationals as an individual (winning the regional qualifier as a junior) and in 1985 helped the Bombers to their first trip to the NCAA Championships as a team.
During Ware’s 10 years as coach, the Bombers posted nine top-three finishes at the ICAC meet (winning conference crowns in 1982, 1988, and 1990) and nine top-five showings at the state meet (with the 1985 team taking second). Ithaca began competing at the NCAA regional in 1983 and never finished lower than sixth under Ware. The Bombers were second in 1985, earning their first team trip to the NCAA Championships, where they finished 11th.
Two other individual national qualifiers—Jerry Goodenough in 1984 and Rich Surace in 1986—became the program’s first All-Americans. Goodenough recorded a 10th-place finish in 1984.
Ithaca made three straight trips to nationals from 1988 to 1990, with Sean Livingston leading the way. Livingston, the program’s first runner to be inducted into the Ithaca College Hall of Fame, posted the highest finish ever by a Bomber at the NCAA Championships, placing fourth at the 1990 race where Ithaca placed 12th as a team.
In 1992, Jim Nichols, who had been an assistant since 1986, replaced Ware (by then a member of Ithaca’s Hall of Fame) as head coach and led the Bombers to a conference title and a 15th-place showing at nationals in his first year. All-American Mike Mulligan’s 25th-place finish at the NCAA championships paced the Bombers.
The 1997 team returned to the NCAA Championships, where the team took 18th and Ian Golden finished 25th. A year later, Golden qualified as an individual and improved his place by three spots to become the program's only two-time All-American.
The 2000 team started a run of three straight trips to nationals and won the school’s first state championship. A year later, the Bombers enjoyed their most successful season ever, repeating as state champions, winning the NCAA regional title for the first time and recording a program-best ninth-place finish at nationals.
In 2003, the Empire 8 (which had earlier existed as the Independent College Athletic Conference, ICAC) began sponsoring cross country as conference sport, and the Bombers won the inaugural title. Mike Styczynski won the Empire 8 individual title (becoming the program’s first conference champion) and qualified for the NCAA championships, where he earned All-American honors with a 24th-place finish.
Nichols has been named Empire 8 Coach of the Year eight times since 2003 (2003, 2008-12, 2014, 2015).
Ithaca won Empire 8 titles in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. William Way represented the 2010 squad as an individual at nationals where he placed 25th to become the Bombers’ eighth All-American. A pair of Bombers competed as individuals at the NCAA Championships in 2012 -- Nathan Bickell and Sawyer Hitchcock, both clocking career-best times. Hitchcock – the Empire 8’s only back-to-back individual champion – found his way back to nationals in 2014 and 2015.
After a 14-year stint in the Empire 8, Ithaca moved to the Liberty League in 2017. In their inaugural championship competition within the Liberty League, the Bombers placed fourth overall. IC once again finished fourth in the 2018 Liberty League Championship, to go along with a seventh place showing at the NCAA Atlantic Regional.
In 2019, the team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2002. Going into the race ranked 28th in the nation, the Bombers posted a 26th place finish with 260 points at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.
The Bombers sent two more student-athletes to compete in the national championship race in 2021 as Ben Tiber and Danny Jagoe represented IC. During the season, IC placed third at the Liberty League Championships and fourth at the NCAA Niagara Regional. Three runners would be named all-conference - Tiber, Jagoe and Patrick Bierach - and those three would also be named all-region.
Jagoe returned to the NCAA Championships in 2022 and finished 71st overall, while Ithaca placed fifth at the Liberty League meet and 10th at the Niagara Regional.
IC finished sixth in the 2023 Liberty League Championship and eighth in the NCAA Niagara Regional. James Hughes was first team in the Liberty League and earned all-region as he recorded the fifth-fastest 8K in school history in the regional meet.
Jim Nichols announced his retirement heading into the 2024 season and women's head coach Erin Dinan was appointed to oversee both programs. In 2024, IC finished sixth at the Liberty League Championships and ninth at the Niagara Regional. James Hughes and Drew Taylor were all-region performers.
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