The Ithaca College men’s and women’s cross-country teams both placed first overall at the Empire 8 Championship at Houghton College on Oct. 31.
The men clinched their sixth straight championship, while the women continued their streak of 13 straight championships as the only Empire 8 champion since 2003.
Both Bombers squads’ top-five runners finished in 14th place or better.
The men’s team was led by senior Sawyer Hitchcock and took first overall out of the 95 competitors. Hitchcock set the pace and clocked in at 25:08.6.
Only 21 seconds behind was sophomore Tim Chappell, placing second in the race, while junior Sean Phillips took third three seconds behind Chappell.
Junior Jesse Capellaro and senior Stephen Gomez rounded out the top five placing in 12th and 14th, respectively, to conclude the team-total of 32 points. Junior Shane Connor and senior Brendan Davis were the 16th and 19th runners to cross the finish line.
The women’s squad competed against 95 runners, and sophomore Taryn Cordani claimed a first place finish in 17:51.2. She was followed by fellow sophomore Denise Ibarra in second place clocking in at 18:32.4. Senior Michaela Cioffredi, senior Anna Fay and junior Kristin Lynn placed sixth, ninth and 12th.
Freshman Emilie Mertz earned a 15th place finish and senior Trisha Ignatowski placed 19th.
Up next for the Blue and Gold is the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship held on Nov. 14 in Mount Morris, New York.
