Cordani, Visca and Ithaca Coaching Staff Earn Top E8 2015 Season Awards
The Empire 8 Conference has honored Ithaca College sophomore Taryn Cordani with Runner of the Year honors. Stevens Institute of Technology freshman Mary Visca was tabbed the Rookie of the Year and Ithaca College was selected the E8 Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year.
Cordani concluded the 2015 season by competing in the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship. She placed 14th overall on the 6K course with a time of 21:36.3 to earn All-America honors. Cordani qualified for the national meet thank to her runner-up finish at the NCAA Atlantic Region Championships with a time of 21:56.7. Prior to regionals and nationals, Cordani won the Empire 8 Championship with a 5K time of 17:51.2 to become Ithaca’s first individual champion since 2011 and was 41 seconds ahead of the runner-up. It is the tenth time an Ithaca athlete has earned Runner of the Year honors and the first since 2011.
The Rookie of the Year honor goes to a Duck for the second time, as Amy Regan previously won the honor in 2012. Visca was the top freshman runner at the Empire 8 championships with a third place finish (18:40.0) over the 5K course. She was one of three E8 runners to compete at the 2015 NCAAs, where she finished in 121st place out of 280 runners. Her time of 22:28.6 was the second fastest during her rookie season. Visca was the E8 runner of the week twice and was the second female in Stevens history to qualify for the national meet. She earned her NCAA bid by virtue of a 16th place finish at the Atlantic Regional with a 6K time of 22:30.
Head Coach Erin Dinan and the Bomber coaching staff earned the top-coaching award. Ithaca claimed its 13th straight conference title in October, remaining the only school to be crowned Empire 8 champions since the conference first started to sponsor the sport in 2003. All seven Ithaca athletes finished in the top-20 and three of those earned first-team all-conference and two earned second-team honors. Other highlights for the Bombers this season included a fifth place finish out at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference (NYSCTC) Championships. And Ithaca concluded its season with a seventh place finish out of 37 teams at the NCAA Regional Championship.
In addition, one member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2015 Women’s Cross Country Sportswoman of the Year Team. Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.
The first and second team all-conference teams were announced following the conclusion of the championship.
Empire 8 2015 Women’s Cross Country All-Conference Awards
Player of the Year: Taryn Cordani, Ithaca College
Rookie of the Year: Mary Visca, Stevens Institute of Technology
Coaching Staff of the Year: Ithaca College
First Team
Name Yr. School
Michaela Cioffredi Jr. Ithaca
Taryn Cordani So. Ithaca
Denise Ibarra So. Ithaca
Gabrielle Lebihan Sr. Nazareth
Samantha Van Gee Jr. St. John Fisher
Mary Visca Fr. Stevens
Ashton Villeneuve Sr. Utica
Second Team
Name Yr. School
Anna Fay Sr. Ithaca
Kristin Lynn Jr. Ithaca
Kimberly Lovett So. Nazareth
Kaela Earrusso Jr. Stevens
Kathleen Kalbian Jr. Stevens
Paige Metzheiser Fr. Stevens
Kate Moyer Sr. Stevens
Sportswoman of the Year
Name School
Morgan Flick Alfred University
Hannah Gaston Elmira College
Katie Evans Hartwick College
Rachel Hummel Houghton College
Amanda St. Clair Ithaca College
Blair Meeson Nazareth College
Sarah Coon St. John Fisher College
Kate Moyer Stevens Institute of Technology
Makenna Cooley Utica College
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