Cunningham, Bickell and Geary Honored on District All-Academic First Team
Three Empire 8 men’s cross country, track and field runners have been named to the
CoSIDA Academic All-District teams.
Stevens Institute of Technology sophomore Thomas Cunningham was honored in district 2 and Ithaca seniors Nathan Bickell and David Geary were recognized in district 3. All three have now advanced to the ballot of academic All-America honors.
Cunningham primarily shined as a cross country runner, as he was named First-Team All-Empire 8 Conference after a seventh place finish in the Cross Country Championship on October 24. He ran a time of 27:03.24 on the 8,000-meter course. Cunningham also put together a solid showing at the CTC Championships with a time of 27:31.7 to finish sixth overall out of 90 runners. In both meets, Cunningham helped guide Stevens to second place finishes. Cunningham boasts a 3.90 GPA as a Chemical Engineering major.
Bickell, a documentary studies & production major, was named Empire 8 Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year in the fall. He was the conference individual champion, winning the race in 26:11.44 to earn Runner of the Meet honors and First-Team All-Empire 8 accolades. He ran to 15th-place finish at the NCAA Regionals to earn an individual bid to NCAA Championships. Bickell knocked five seconds off his career-best time to finish 127th out of 280 runners in 25:52.80. Named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, he is a three-time T&F All-NYSCTC selection and was the E8 indoor mile run runner-up as a senior.
A music education and music theory major, Geary served as a team captain for the cross country and track & field teams this year. He earned all-region cross country honors with a season-best 8K time of 26:15.00. Geary placed fourth at the Empire 8 championship to be named to the All-Empire 8 First Team. He was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team at the conclusion of the season. A six-time T&F All-NYSCTC selection as a senior, Geary was the Empire 8 champion in the outdoor 1,500-meter run. He tallied team-best indoor times of 1:56.63 in the 800 and 4:21.98 in the mile and 1:54.38 in the outdoor 800. Geary was Ithaca's Bernard Scholar-Athlete Award recipient at the annual senior awards luncheon.
Most recently, Bickell and Geary teamed together to place third in the outdoor 4x800 relay at the ECAC Championships, helping the Bombers to a 10th-place finish. They own the indoor 4x800 school record of 7:51.65, while Geary claimed the indoor mile run record of 4:16.96.