ROCHESTER, NY - The Empire 8 Athletic Conference has announced the Track Athlete, Field Athlete, Rookie and Coach of the Year awards for the 2013 men’s outdoor track and field season. The conference coaches vote on the awards.
Nazareth junior
Jake Lafaver has been voted the Track Athlete of the Year. Lafaver started the season with an Empire 8 title in the 800 meter dash with a winning time of 1:57.17 He then was crowed the 800 meter champion at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference (NYSCTC) championship with a time of 1:54.39. He improved his season best a week later at the Oneonta May Meet with a fourth place time of 1:52.97. His time ranked 26
th nationally, missing out on NCAA qualification by .67.
Ithaca senior
Alec Svoboda has been granted the award for Field Athlete of the Year after finishing the season ranked 31st nationally in the decathlon among Division III athletes. Svoboda snapped the 6,000 point threshold to win the decathlon at the NYSCTC Championships with 6,013 points. Two weeks later he earned silver in the decathlon with a career-best 4,107-point performance at the ECAC Championships. Earlier in the season he competed in five events at the E8 Championship placing fourth in the long jump, sixth in the discus, seventh in the javelin, eighth in the high jump and 11th in the 110 meter hurdles.
Ithaca’s
Sawyer Hitchcock was tabbed the Rookie of the Year as he ranked 61st in the NCAA Division III for the steeplechase. He placed first at the Empire 8 Championships in a time of 9:46.65, third at the NYSCTC (9:30.95) and clocked a fifth-place finish of 9:32.90 at the ECAC Championship.
Ithaca’s
Jim Nichols has been named the Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year for the sixth time in a row. Nichols guided Ithaca to its seventh straight Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field Championship, as the Bombers had ten individuals and two relay teams earn All-Empire 8 honors. Ithaca also placed second at the NYSCTC Outdoor Championship as the Bombers has 24 individual and three relay All-NYSCTC finishes during the competition. The Bombers wrapped up its season with four All-ECAC performances to finish 10th at the ECAC Outdoor Championships.