· One National Champion - Parley Hannan (2019)
· 2017 Liberty League Champions
· Two Liberty League Individual Champions (2017 and 2019)
· First 14 Empire 8 League Championships
· 10 of 14 Empire 8 Individual Champions (2003-11, 15)
· 19 Straight Top 5 Finishes in the NYSCTC Championship from 1997-2015
· 36 Top 5 Finishes in the Atlantic Region (now Niagara) since 1982
· 25 NCAA Championship Team Appearances
In 42 years of competition, the Bombers have made 25 trips to the NCAA championship meet, won 11 state titles, six ECAC championships, 14 Empire 8 crowns and their first Liberty League title in 2017, while producing 26 All-Americans.
Women’s cross country made its debut as a varsity sport in 1982. Participation in the sport at Ithaca had previously been limited to female runners working out with the men’s cross country team and running men’s distances in races.
The Bombers got off to a strong start under their inaugural coach, Bill Ware. Ithaca placed second at the New York State championship meet. Marisa Sutera, a 1993 inductee into the Ithaca College Hall of Fame, was one of the team’s top runners that season.
A year later, Betsy Kneale became Ithaca’s first All-American (her eighth-place finish at nationals is still the highest by a Bomber freshman) after qualifying for the NCAA meet as an individual. In 1984, the Bombers made their first appearance as a team at nationals after winning the state, ECAC, and NCAA regional championships. At the national meet, All-Americans Cathy Livingston and Gabriella Fritelli paced Ithaca to a third-place finish—the first of four straight top-three showings for the team.
Fritelli and Colleen Skelly brought home All-American accolades in 1985 and a year later, behind the All-American efforts of Skelly (17th) and freshman Jannette Bonrouhi (10th), the Bombers recorded their highest finish—a second-place effort. Another third-place finish came in 1987 with a school-record three Ithaca runners recording All-American finishes: Skelly, Bonrouhi, and Livingston. All three are members of the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Bonrouhi recorded the program’s two best individual placings at the NCAA Championships over the next two years, taking fifth in 1988 and seventh as a senior. She remains the program’s only four-time All-American. The annual alumni race, which opens the cross country season, is named for Bonrouhi, who died in 2000.
Ithaca’s stretch of state titles reached eight in 1991, Ware’s final season (of his first stint) as Bomber coach. A year later, Jim Nichols, in his only year directing the team, led Ithaca to a runner-up showing at regionals and a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Coaches Adrean Scott and Kelli Bert led the Bombers over the next five years. Under Coach Scott, Moira Strong qualified for the NCAA Championship in 1993, finishing in 81st place. In 1996, Melanie Della Rocco qualified for nationals, finishing 117th. Bert guided the team to fourth place at the regional qualifier (the team’s best showing in four years) in her last season.
Ware returned as coach from 1998-2011. In 1999 Cara Devlin became the first Bomber in three seasons to compete at the NCAA Championships (she earned All-American honors with her 18th-place finish) and in 2000 the Bombers were back at nationals as a team, placing 10th behind freshman Amanda Laytham’s 10th-place finish. They competed at nationals 10 consecutive years (2000-09), with top-10 finishes in 2002 (seventh) and 2005 (eighth).
Laytham, who won the ECAC Robbins Scholar-Athlete Award and an NCAA postgraduate scholarship and was named the NCAA’s New York State Woman of the Year after graduating in 2004, led Ithaca to three more trips to the national championship meet (including a seventh-place finish in 2002) and earned academic All-American honors three times in her career.
Erin Dinan, an assistant under Ware from 2006-2011, took over as head coach in 2012. She led the Bombers to their best regional finish in three years (5th) to earn an at-large invitation to the NCAA Championships and was also named Empire 8 Coach of the Year. From 2013-15, Dinan was named E8 Coach of the Year two more times and guided the Bombers to a pair of team appearances at NCAAs. Jenn Randall (2013) and Taryn Cordani (2015) earned All-America recognition under the guidance of Dinan.
In 2017, Ithaca competed in the Liberty League after a 14-year stint in the Empire 8. The Bombers won the league title by two points over St. Lawrence and Taryn Cordani was the individual champion, while Sierra Grazia was the runner-up. IC would go on the finish second at the NCAA Atlantic Regional, and once again, Cordani claimed top honors. Ithaca qualified as a team for the NCAA Championships in Elsah, Ill. and finished ninth in the country. Cordani earned her third career All-American performance with a 14th place finish, while Denise Ibarra secured her first All-American honor. Prior to the national meet, Cordani was named the NCAA Elite 90 recipient, as she owned the highest grade-point average (4.00) in the championship.
In 2019, the team received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship for the first team since 2002. Going into the race ranked 22nd in the nation, the Bombers finished 26th overall with 609 points.
Senior Parley Hannan became the first student-athlete in school history to win a cross country national championship in 2019. Clocking in with a time of 20:53.8 at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, KY., Hannan became the 30th student-athlete to win a national title and the 46th overall individual national champion at Ithaca College. The senior bested the field of 277 runners by a convincing 18 seconds as she ran an average mile split of 5:36.3 on a muddy course.
In 2021, Ithaca placed third at the Liberty League Championship, as well as the NCAA Niagara Regional. Six runners were named all-league and five earned all-region. In 2022, IC finished third at regionals and fourth in the Liberty League meet as Jessica Goode was named Liberty League Rookie of the Year and qualified for NCAAs.
The 2023 season saw IC record a pair of fifth place finishes at the Liberty League and Niagara Regional Championships. Kyla Eisman also qualified for the NCAA Championships. The following year, Joy Petersen qualified for nationals as the Bombers were fourth at the Liberty League Championship and fifth at regionals.
Ithaca has produced 107 all-state runners and placed 157 in the top-35 at the NCAA Regional Championships.
12/19/24
