ITHACA, N.Y. - The Ithaca College men's track & field team will kick off its 2021-22 season this weekend, December 4, at Cornell University's Greg Page Relays. Ithaca, which is typically a top 30 program in Division III, will make its long-awaited return to an indoor season after the cancellation of the 2020-21 campaign – except for one meet last March.
That meet in early March 2021 at Nazareth was the first competition for any Ithaca athletics program since the pandemic brought a halt to intercollegiate athletics across the country. It marked exactly one year to the day in which the Bombers competed in a meet (March 6-7, 2020 at the AARTFC Championships at Nazareth) as well.
Heading into the 2020 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, the Bombers qualified three members of the team who were each ranked in the top eight in their respective events. Two of those three qualifiers are back –
Dom Mikula and
Luke Tobia.
Mikula was seeded fourth in the 2020 indoor championships and Tobia was eighth in the weight throw.
Fast forward to the 2021 spring season, Mikula posted a national runner-up finish in the pole vault and
Nathaniel Oczkowski qualified for the 400-meter hurdles.
The Bombers also welcome back numerous USTFCCCA All-Region honorees –
Timothy Cook,
Aaron Davis,
Andy Frank,
Callum Howald,
Ryan Medeiros,
Daniel Monchek,
Jalen Leonard-Osbourne,
Samuel Panzer,
Conor Ryan,
Brendan Sheehan,
Justin Showstead,
Matthew Tai,
Akap Takor,
Zachary Wachs and
Spencer Whitmore.
During the 2021 outdoor season, Ithaca won its first Liberty League outdoor champion and finished third at the AARTFC Championships.
After the opening meet this weekend, the Bombers are off until the New Year. IC will return to action on January 8 for an alumni celebration race and then host Brockport and Oneonta on January 14. The Bombers remain at home the following weekend with a quad meet with Cortland, Oneonta and TCNJ on January 22.
On January 29, Ithaca heads to Nazareth for the Indoor Conference Challenge Cup and then the Bombers will host their annual Invitational and Multi on February 5-6 for their final home meet of the season before championships season.
IC will serve as the host for the Liberty League Championships on February 25-26 and then travel back to Nazareth for the AARTFC Championships on March 4-5. The NCAA Championships will take place in Winston-Salem, N.C. on March 11-12.
All home meets this season will have live results via leonetiming.com. Check out the schedule throughout the season to see which home meets will have live video coverage.
