In 49 years as a varsity sport, the Bombers’ track & field teams have won 40 state titles (17 in indoor track & field, and 24 in outdoor track & field), captured 11 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) titles, and produced 160 All-Americans. The Bombers had won every indoor and outdoor conference title from 2007-08 up to the 2022 Liberty League Outdoor Championships (27 titles).
The program began in 1977, competing only in outdoor track & field, and was awarded varsity status two years later. Under the direction of Natalie Smith, Ithaca competed without a home track that first season and still placed seventh at the state championship meet behind Kim Schneider and Laura King, the runner-up and third-place finisher, respectively, in the shot put.
Smith remained at the helm for two more years before Linda Buettner took over as the Bomber coach. In Buettner’s four years, Ithaca’s program saw its first state champion crowned in Cathy Kennedy, who won the 1981 crown in the javelin throw, began indoor track & field competition in 1982, rose as high as second at the state championship meet at the 1982 outdoor championships and recorded seven top-10 finishes at the ECAC Championships. Buettner, who was also the women’s soccer coach, was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
Among the team’s top competitors were Kim Bouck, Rose Danielle, Betsy Kneale, Caryl Senn, and Marisa Sutera. Bouck was a national qualifier in the shot put and held the school record in that event for 17 years. A 1982 national qualifier, Danielle still holds the school’s indoor high jump record. Kneale, who spent just one season at Ithaca, set records in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs. The 10,000 record still stands. Senn’s records in the pentathlon and heptathlon stood for over 20 years. She earned All-American honors with a second-place showing in the heptathlon in 1983. Sutera has held the Ithaca record in the indoor 600-meter run for 30 years; a cross country standout as well, she was inducted into the Ithaca College Hall of Fame in 1993.
Jim Nichols took over as the program’s coach in 1986 and guided the team for the next seven years (he returned as head coach for a two-year stint in 1998). In his first year, the Bombers took second at the state and ECAC meets during the indoor season, then captured both titles in the outdoor season—the first championships at either competition for the program. A total of 12 more state and ECAC crowns followed over the next six years—including a sweep of the indoor and outdoor state and ECAC titles in 1989—and the team began its success at the national level.
Michelle Lewis’s fifth-place finish at the 1986 NCAA Indoor Championships made her the program’s first indoor All-American. By the end of the ’80s, Julie Aman, Jannette Bonrouhi, Lauri Hancock, Cathy Livingston, Cheryl Netheway, and Colleen Skelly had added their names to Ithaca’s list of All-Americans. All have since been enshrined in the school’s Hall of Fame. Bonrouhi tallied six All-American finishes, topped by a fourth-place finish in the 10,000-meter run at the 1989 NCAA outdoor meet. Hancock, a high jumper who took seventh at the outdoor that same year, was the first Bomber to earn All-American honors in a field event. She went on to earn All-American honors in the javelin throw a year later.
At the 1992 NCAA Indoor Championships, Ann Marie DelSignore won the 5,000-meter run to become the school’s first national champion. Her performance helped the Bombers to an 11th-place finish at that meet. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.
Strong performances in the sprints and relays were also Bomber trademarks in the early ’90s. Amy Vanaskie earned All-American honors six times and set school records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Kristina Wachtel and Laura Young were both multiple All-Americans as well. Netheway, Vanaskie, Wachtel and Jennifer Potter (who returned to her alma mater as head coach in 2003–04) still hold the school record in the outdoor 1,600-meter relay and finished as the national runner-up in that event in 1991.
Adrean Scott served as head coach from 1994 to 1995, with Kelli Bert leading the program for the next three years. In Bert’s final year as coach, the Bombers swept the indoor and outdoor state titles for the first time since 1990 with high-jumper Heidi Nichols earning All-America honors at the indoor and outdoor national meets. Nichols, an academic All-American and three-time All-American volleyball player, was named New York State Woman of the Year in 1998. She was inducted into the Ithaca Hall of Fame in 2010.
Ithaca’s dominance at the state level continued as the Bombers stretched their streaks to five indoor titles (1998–2002) and nine outdoor crowns (1998–2006) under head coaches Nichols (1999–2000), Matt Belfield (2001–03) and Potter (2004–present). All-Americans Lauren Byler, Cara Devlin and Courtney Smith were among the mainstays of those teams.
Distance runner Amanda Laytham earned six All-America honors in her career—matching Bonrouhi and Vanaskie—and placed as high as second at nationals, finishing as runner-up in the indoor 1,500-meter run as a sophomore. A three-time academic All-American as well, she became the second Ithaca athlete honored as the NCAA’s New York State Woman of the Year.
Potter was named head coach at her alma mater in 2003. In her first 14 years, she’s led the Bombers to 25 Empire 8 titles, 20 state championships and 13 top-five finishes at the ECAC championships (including six first-place finishes). During her tenure, a total of 49 All-American performances by Bomber athletes have helped Ithaca record nine top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships.
From 2008-2011, 2011 graduate Marcia McCord made her mark for the women's track and field program. The six-time All-American owns eight school records. At the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships, 2012 graduate Emma Dewart became a two-time NCAA champion with a school record mark in the pentathlon. An 11-time All-American, Dewart holds nine school records.
The following year, 2013 graduates Amanda Rissmeyer and Jen Randall earned All-America finishes in the high jump and the mile run, respectively, at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Randall concluded her career with All-America accolades in the 800-meter run at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The two-time All-American set a total of six school records during her tenure.
2015 graduate Emilia Scheemaker earned her first All-America accolades at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships after placing fifth in the triple jump. She followed her All-American performance in the triple jump with an eighth-place finish at the 2014 Outdoor Championships. Scheemaker concluded her career with a pair of All-American honors during her 2015 campaign, which also included a school-record mark in the triple jump at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships. During that time, Brandy Smith also earned her first national title in the discus.
At the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships, Taryn Cordani, Katherine Pitman, and Smith all recorded All-American performances, which included a school-record mark in the weight throw by Smith. The 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships featured an eight-place finish by the Bombers, the second-best placement by the squad at the outdoor championships in school history. Pitman and Smith both earned national titles in the pole vault and discus, respectively. Pitman set a new DIII championship meet record with a 4.21 meter mark.
During the 2016-17 seasons, the Bombers earned their best finishes in program history after taking second place at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships and 2017 Outdoor Championships. Cordani earned national titles in both the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs, while Pitman claimed another national title in the pole vault. Pitman set another NCAA Division III meet record after previously breaking the outdoor championships record mark. Smith and Beth Cripps both earned All-American accolades. At the Outdoor Championships, Cordani prevailed in the 10,000-meter run for her third national title of the year, while Pitman was a runner-up in the pole vault and Amber Edwards earned All-America honors in the 100-meter hurdles.
In 2017-18, Ithaca moved to the Liberty League and continued its dominance. The Bombers won both Liberty League Indoor and Outdoor titles, as well as first place in the AARTFC Outdoor Championships. Pitman recorded her third career national title in the pole vault during the indoor season, as she set the DIII record at 4.28 meters in Alabama. Cordani was an All-American in the 3K (sixth) and 5K (second), while Edwards placed eighth in the 60-meter hurdles, which placed IC seventh nationally. At the DIII Outdoor Championships in Wisconsin, Cordani repeated as national champion in the 10K for her fourth career national title - the only student-athlete at IC to win four titles - and she finished third in the 5K for her nine All-America honor in track & field.
The Bombers once again won a conference title in 2018-19 (indoor) in dominating fashion with 241.5 points. The 241.5 points were the second-most in Liberty League indoor history as it only trailed St. Lawrence's 268 from 2003. IC would send three student-athletes to the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in Boston - Logan Bruce, Meghan Matheny and Sarah Rudge.
The 2019-20 season looked the be the most successful one to date, as the Bombers were ranked No. 1 for a majority of the season. IC went into the NCAA Indoor Championships ranked No. 2 in the country, but the national meet, and the outdoor season, were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ithaca was set to send 10 athletes to compete in 10 different events on March 13-14. Parley Hannan, the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Year, was ranked No. 1 in DIII in the mile, 3K and 5K, as well as the anchor on the top DMR team. Hannan set school records in the mile, 3K and 5K during the season and her 5K time of 16:05.36 set a NCAA Division III record. Meghan Matheny, the Liberty League Field Performer of the Year, was No. 2 in the pole vault, while Katelyn Hutchison, Tia Jones and Samara Herzog were ranked within the top 10 in sprints, while Logan Bruce and Martha Kemp-Neilson qualified for Ithaca. Lindsay Scott and Maggie Nickerson were set to run in the DMR as well, along with Hannan and Hutchison. Head coach Jennifer Potter was named USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year, while Erin Dinan was the assistant coach of the year for the Atlantic Region.
There was no 2021 indoor season as the pandemic continued to hamper college athletics, but competition resumed for the outdoor season and IC won the Liberty League West championship and placed fourth at the NCAA Division III Championship. Parley Hannan won national titles in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter runs, while Meghan Matheny claimed the pole vault title. Sara Altonen, Katelyn Hutchison and Samantha Healy also earned All-America honors.
The 2021-22 indoor campaign was another memorable one as IC took third at the NCAA Championships behind a national title from Meghan Matheny and All-American performances from Logan Bruce in the pentathlon, Sara Altonen in the pole vault and a pair of second place finishes from Tia Jones in to 60 and 200-meter dashes. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Bruce, Matheny and Martha Kemp-Neilson were All-Americans as IC finished 28th.
In the 2022-23 indoor season, Logan Bruce set numerous school records in the 60-meter hurdles and the pentathlon. Bruce was the national runner-up in both events, while Meghan Matheny finished second in the pole vault. IC finished eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Matheny claimed her third career national title by clearing 4.10 meters to set a personal best, while Bruce finished as the national runner-up in the heptathlon with a school record mark of 5220 points. Both would be named Liberty League Athletes of the Year.
The 2023-24 season witnessed three total national qualifiers as Laura Suppa went to the indoor and outdoor championships, while Madeleine Wright qualified during the outdoor season. The USTFCCCA implemented a Second Team All-America honor in 2023-24, which recognized student-athletes who finished between ninth and 16th in their respective events, and Suppa was the beneficiary of the new award as she was placed 13th in the 100-meter hurdles and 14th in the 60-meter hurdles.
IC returned to the top of the Liberty League with an indoor championship at home in 2024-25 and the Bombers were the runners-up at the outdoor championships. Ithaca secured three podium All-Americans as Rachel Larson finished third in the 100-meter hurdles and sixth in the 60-meter hurdles, while Laura Suppa took fourth in the 60 hurdles at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. Suppa was also a Second Team All-American in the 100 hurdles during outdoors and Madeleine Wright was a Second Team All-American in the high jump during both championships.
6/12/2025
