In 27 years as a varsity sport the Bombers have won 22 state titles (eight in indoor track and field and 14 in outdoor track and field), captured four Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) titles and produced 68 all-Americans.
The program began in 1977, competing only in outdoor track and field, and was awarded varsity status two years later. Under the direction of Natalie Smith, Ithaca competed without a home track that first season yet 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 (Cathy Kennedy, who won the 1981 crown in the javelin throw), began indoor track and field competition (in 1982), rose as high as second at the state championship meet (at the 1982 outdoor state championships) and recorded seven top-10 finishes at the ECAC Championships.
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 that have stood since 1984. Senn’s records in the pentathlon and heptathlon have stood for 20 years (the latter is Ithaca’s oldest standing outdoor record) and she earned all-America honors with a second-place showing in the heptathlon in 1983. Sutera has held the Ithaca record in the indoor 600-meter run for 23 years; a cross-country standout as well, she was inducted into Ithaca’s 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 13 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’ fifth-place finish at the 1986 NCAA indoor championships made her the program’s first 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 set a school record with six all-America 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-America honors in a field event. She went on to earn all-America honors in the javelin throw a year later.
The program’s top individual accomplishment came at the 1992 NCAA indoor championships, where Ann DelSignore won the 5,000-meter run to become the school’s first national champion. Her performance helped the Bombers to a school-record 11th-place finish at that meet.
Strong performances in the sprints and relays were also Bomber trademarks in the early ‘90s. Amy Vanaskie earned all-America honors six times and still holds school records in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Kristina Wachtel and Laura Young were both multiple all-Americans as well. Nethaway, Vanaskie, Wachtel and Jennifer Potter (who returned to her alma mater as head coach for the 2004 season) 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 1995 to 1997, 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.
Ithaca’s dominance at the state level continued as the Bombers stretched their streaks to five indoor titles (1998-2002) and seven outdoor crowns (every one since 1998) under head coaches Nichols (1998-2000) and Matt Belfield (2000-03). 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 for the school record – 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.
The past four seasons have seen six top-10 finishes at the ECAC meets and titles at seven of the eight state events, as well as all-American performances from Lynn Janovich (her second-place finish at the 2003 NCAA outdoor championships is the best individual showing ever by an Ithaca athlete at the outdoor nationals) and Emily Maston and Meghan Morningstar.