The men’s track & field program dates back to the 1930s. Standouts like Merwin “Bud” Fenton, Mike McKillop, and Louis Spiotti (all members of the Ithaca College Hall of Fame) were among the top performers on Ithaca’s earliest teams, under the direction of Isadore “Doe” Yavits. The school’s first home meet, a 71-46 victory over Savage School of New York, took place on May 16, 1938. Another highlight from that season was the mile relay team’s fourth-place finish at the Penn Relays.
Through the 1940s Bomber success continued, with sprinter Alex Doig, sprinter John Lunievicz, hurdler John Smith, and high jumper Bill Zaruka among Ithaca’s top competitors.
During the 1950s thrower Lou Bakos, hurdler Glenn Bartle, distance runner Fred Bleiler, sprinter and pole vaulter Dick Carmean, sprinter William Jackson, thrower Bob Marella, and hurdler George O’Sullivan were among the many Ithaca athletes to contribute to the program’s success.
Yavits retired as the program’s head coach after the 1963 season, but not before leading such standout performers as Theodore Bedell (a shot putter, long jumper and hurdler), sprinter Newton Brooke, distance runner John Coons and sprinter James West.
The 1964 season saw former Yavits assistant Mike Greene take over the reins as head coach. Greene’s first teams were led by distance standout Warren Campbell, whose records in the 880-yard run, mile run, and two-mile run all stood for at least 15 years. Robert Burnham set school records in the shot put and discus that lasted until 1985. Record-setting hurdler Dave Fontanella and long jumper Peter Toomey were other top performers for Greene’s first teams, as was Tom Ficorelli, who was the 1968 state runner-up in the shot put.
The 1968 season saw Ithaca’s first indoor track & field competition. A highlight was Bob Fehring’s fourth place showing at the state championship meet.
The Bombers began competing at the Independent College Athletic Conference (ICAC) championships during the early 1970s, with top performances from Gary Rittenburg (the 1973 champion in the 440-yard run) and Ron King (the 1972 runner-up in the pole vault).
Jim Cromer (triple jump) and Terry Jarvie (100-meter dash) were conference titlists in 1978, with Jarvie setting an ICAC championship record. David Herman and Len Tyler (a former thrower on Greene’s teams of the late ’60s) both served briefly as head coach before Ed Decker began a three-year stint in 1978. Under Decker, the 1978 team recorded a 5-1 mark (the program’s best season in 11 years) and reestablished the indoor track & field program. Jim Cromer set school records in the triple jump and high jump in his career.
Mike Donnelly, a former Bomber captain as an undergraduate, was named head coach in 1981. He coached standouts like Charlie Colligan and Mike Page (who swept the long and triple jump titles at both the indoor and outdoor conference meets in 1980). Under Donnelly, Ithaca won its first two conference titles—the 1981 outdoor championship and the 1982 indoor crown. The 1981 outdoor team also recorded the program’s second-best finish at the state meet, placing 11th. A year later, the Bombers took seventh at the state indoor meet and fifth at the outdoor event.
Jerry Boyes, another former Bomber athlete, took over as head coach in 1984. After Donnelly led Ithaca to three straight ICAC outdoor titles, Boyes continued the success as the program won the conference’s outdoor title all three years he coached the team. Boyes’ first team posted a 7-0 outdoor record, and he coached NCAA qualifiers Carlos Adrian (100 and 200-meter dashes), Mike Johnson (triple jump), John Loose (high jump), and Jim Nichols (shot put). The 1985 season saw the program’s first all-American finish as Johnson earned the honor in the long jump at the NCAA outdoor championships. A year later, Johnson earned All-America honors in the long jump at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships, while high jumpers Matt Lesyk and Loose took second and third, respectively, at indoor nationals. Johnson and Lesyk each posted a total of three All-America finishes, the most of any Bomber.
The 1986-87 seasons were the first for Jim Nichols (not the former Ithaca athlete, whose outdoor shot put and discus records still stand) as head coach. Nichols has led the Bombers to 42 top-five finishes at the indoor and outdoor state meets. His teams won nine conference crowns between 1987 and 1995, when the conference discontinued sponsoring track & field. King Lewis matched the program’s best NCAA finish with a second-place showing in the triple jump at the 1988 indoor national meet, helping the Bombers to a school-record 15th-place team finish. He also earned All-American honors in the outdoor triple jump two years later.
In 1991, All-Americans Jason Jackson (100-meter dash), Sean Livingston (1,500-meter run), and David Fields (long jump) led the outdoor team to a 19th-place finish at the NCAA championships, the program’s best ever. Livingston also earned indoor all-America accolades that year.
The 1995 season saw the indoor team begin a stretch of nine top-10 finishes in 11 years at the Eastern College Athletic (ECAC) indoor championships. Those years were also highlighted by David Kelley’s All-American showing at the 1998 NCAA outdoor championships (he was eighth in the triple jump) and record-setting performances by hurdler Jon Mulholland, pole vaulter Jess Hafner, and sprinters Matt Hopp and Scott Rowe (three of which still hold school records).
In 2001, the program reached new heights, winning the state indoor and outdoor championships; both titles were the first for the Bombers (who had also won the state cross country title). Ithaca’s state champions from those teams included Matt Hopp, who won his third straight title in the outdoor 400-meter dash, and Mike Styczynski, who was named the outdoor meet’s outstanding runner after winning the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs. Brandon Mallette (outdoor 800-meter run), Jim Ravener (indoor 500-meter run), and Chris Ryer (indoor 55-meter dash) also won individual titles.
Mallette and Ravener both earned All-American honors at the 2002 NCAA indoor championship meet, taking eighth and fourth, respectively, in the 800-meter run. A year later, they teamed with Brian Cocca and Garrett Wagner to become the program’s first All-America relay team, earning the honor with an eighth place showing in the distance medley relay.
The Bombers began competing in the Empire 8 Championships during the 2003-04 season. Ithaca has won nine of the 13 contested indoor titles and 10 of the 13 outdoor crowns. From 2007-14, the Bombers won both Empire 8 indoor and outdoor championships.
Max Orenstein secured two All-America finishes at the NCAA outdoor championships in 2010, finishing fifth in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, while Chris Mastrosimone placed fifth in the 400-meter dash. The Bombers’ three All-America finishes in 2010 helped them to a tie for 22nd place, the second-best outdoor finish in program history. Mastrosimone repeated as a fifth place finisher in the 400-meter dash at the 2011 outdoor meet.
During the 2015-16 season, Andrew Brandt secured the first indoor All-American performance since 2003 in the high jump with a fourth place finish. Sawyer Hitchcock and Stephen Gomez were named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in June.
In 2016-17, Ithaca once again prevailed in the Empire 8 Indoor Championships. IC also garnered runner-up honors in the NYSCTC Indoor Championships, and third in the ECAC Indoor Championships and NYSCTC Outdoor Championships.
Ithaca transitioned into the Liberty League in 2017-18 and made an immediate impact in the league. IC won the indoor title with 187.3 points as four Bombers won individual titles, and Seth Abbott and Daniel Harden-Marshall were named Athletes of the Meet. Harden-Marshall would go on to represent Ithaca in the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, where he finished 11th in the 200 and 14th in the 400.
The following indoor season (2018-19), Ithaca repeated as Liberty League champions and Harden-Marshall was named Co-Field Performer of the Meet. Harden-Marshall, along with Alex Arika, Dom Mikula and Chris Singer qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston - the most to represent Ithaca in over a decade. Harden-Marshall would go on to place eighth in the long jump to earn All-America honors and become the 28th All-American in program history.
In 2019-20, the outdoor season was canceled and the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships were called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ithaca, which was ranked No. 17 in the country, was set to send three athletes to the indoor championships - Kasim Cisse, Dom Mikula and Luke Tobia. Mikula set Ithaca's pole vault record during the season, with a mark of 5.00 meters, while Cisse established a new high jump standard at 2.11 meters. Tobia also established a new school mark in the weight throw at 18.50 meters. Mikula would be named Liberty League Field Performer of the Year, while Andy Frank was selected as Rookie of the Year. The coaching staff was voted as the top staff in the Liberty League as well for the indoor season.
The pandemic carried over into 2021 and essentially canceled the indoor season, but the Bombers returned to action for the outdoor portion and won the Liberty League West Championship (the league broke its championship into two sites). Luke Tobia was named the Field Performer of the Meet, while Andy Frank was the Track Performer of the Meet. A few weeks later, Dom Mikula finished as the national runner-up in the pole vault at the NCAA Division III Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
IC's 2021-22 indoor season was one of the best in program history as the Bombers finished in a tie for sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Jalen Leonard-Osbourne became the first men's track & field student-athlete to win a national title as he claimed the top spot in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.76 seconds. Luke Tobia and Dom Mikula were All-Americans on the first day of competition as Tobia was the national runner-up in the weight throw with a school record mark of 19.50 meters and Mikula placed fifth in the pole vault. Andy Frank joined the All-America list on the second day as he finished fifth in the 200-meter dash. Heading into the outdoor season with high hopes, IC repeated as Liberty League champions and placed 35th at nationals. Mikula was an All-American - his fifth career performance - in the pole vault, placing fifth, while Nathaniel Oczkowski took sixth in the 400-meter hurdles.
In 2022-23, Mikula and Leonard-Osbourne earned All-American honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships as Mikula was the national runner-up in the pole vault and Leonard-Osbourne placed third in the 60-meter dash. Mikula was the No. 1 overall seed heading into the championships as he posted a school record mark of 5.13 meters during the season. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Mikula earned his first career national championship as he cleared 5.05 meters. Brendan Sheehan also posted an All-American performance, finishing in a tie for fourth in the pole vault.
The following year, Mikula concluded his decorated career with his eighth All-American performance as he finished fourth in the pole vault in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Sheehan was a two-time recipient of Second Team All-America honors from the USTFCCCA after he placed 14th and 16th at the two national championship meets.
Long-time head coach Jim Nichols announced his retirement following the 2023-24 season and Stargell Williams was named the next head coach of the program heading into 2024-25. Ithaca posted a pair of fifth place finishes in the Liberty League Champioships in Williams' first season with the team.
6/12/2025
