By Charles Schaff, Contributing Writer
• November 7, 2024
National dreams and a Liberty League title fuel Ithaca College women's track and field season. With powerhouse athletes returning, the team is ready to prove its dominance across every event.
Finish times for the Ithaca College men’s track and field team fell hard last season — its lowest results in former head coach Jim Nichols’ history of coaching the team. Looking ahead to the season, senior pole vaulter Shaun Herlihy said the team is out for vengeance.
By Sierra Gabriel, Contributing Writer
• October 23, 2024
Once a dominant force in pole vault for Ithaca College, national champion Dominic Mikula ’24 has returned to campus to begin his coaching journey, mentoring the student-athletes following in his footsteps.
Ithaca College and Cornell University are not only united by location but also through sports. Over the decades, the track and field and softball programs of both Ithaca and Cornell have formed interdependent relationships that benefit both schools through facility usage and inter-division competition.
The Ithaca College women's track and field team is “trusting the process,” a motto head coach Jennifer Potter believes is core to the program. With 26 first-year students joining the Bombers’ squad, there is a new wave of excitement and energy heading into the Spring 2024 outdoor season.
Although training and competition experience appear to be the most important role in becoming an elite athlete, it is the elements below the surface that truly allow athletes to excel.
Ithaca College prides itself on alumni relations years after a student graduates. The college hosts annual alumni weekends, invites alumni to speak to students about their field and successes, and provides a safe space where they are always welcome regardless of how long it has been since they have been students. Following in this spirit, the men’s and women’s track and field teams have gone to impressive lengths to harbor a strong tie between their current and previous athletes.
As fall sports have started to come to an end, the Bombers have been getting a kick-start on their training for the 2023–24 indoor track and field season. After losing key athletes such as pentathlete Logan Bruce ’23 and pole vaulter Megan Matheny ’23, the team must adjust to the new team dynamic.
Following a triumphant Spring 2022 outdoor season where the Ithaca College women’s track and field team finished 28th in the country, the Bombers are ready to resume competition.
Senior Katelyn Hutchison will don the Bombers’ blue and white one last time before transferring to the Division I level with the University of Kentucky.