Phillips, Marlow and Ithaca Coaching Staff Take Top MXC Honors
The Empire 8 Conference has honored Ithaca College senior Sean Phillips with Runner of the Year honors. Utica College freshman Mitchell Marlow was tabbed the Rookie of the Year and Ithaca College was selected the E8 Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year.
Phillips was the lone Empire 8 representative at the 2016 NCAA National Championship, where he finished 148 with a time of 25:42.7. Phillips earned his NCAA bid by virtue of a 12th place finish with a personal best time of 24:49.7 at the Division III Atlantic Regional meet. Prior to regionals and nationals, Phillips won the Empire 8 Championship with a time of 25:45.9. Phillips’ Runner of the Year award marks the eighth time an Ithaca athlete has been honored.
Marlow was one of seven rookies to finish in the top-20 at the conference championship, as he took eighth with a time of 26:43.0. He was the tenth freshman at the NCAA Regional meet, as he placed 99th out of 303 runners with a time of 26:20.6. His personal best time of 26:09.8 came at the Hamilton College Invitational on Oct. 8 where he placed sixth overall. Marlow is the fourth Utica runner to earn Rookie honors, joining previous honorees Mitchell Boise (2007), Morgan Payne (2010) and Tyler Wright (2015).
Head Coach Jim Nichols and the Bomber coaching staff earned the top-coaching award. Ithaca claimed its seventh straight conference title in October, marking its ninth title overall– 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Ithaca had seven runners finish in the top-15 at the league meet with four earning first-team All-Empire 8 honorees and four who earned second-team recognition this season. The Bombers concluded their season with a ninth place finish out of 44 teams at the NCAA Regional Championship.
In addition to the top year-end awards, one member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2016 Men’s Cross Country Sportsman 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 sportsmen.
The first and second team all-conference teams were announced following the conclusion of the championship.
Empire 8 2016 Men’s Cross Country Awards
Player of the Year: Sean Phillips, Ithaca
Rookie of the Year: Mitchell Marlow, Utica
Coaching Staff of the Year: Ithaca College
First Team All-Conference
Name School
Sean Phillips Ithaca
Milligan McQuade St. John Fisher
Chris Banko Stevens
Tim Chappell Ithaca
Jesse Capellaro Ithaca
Erik Winberg Utica
Kevin Dixon Alfred
Mitchell Marlow Utica
Chris Gutierrez Ithaca
Chuck Collins St. John Fisher
Second Team All-Conference
Name School
Jeff Montgomery Ithaca
Chris Tinti Ithaca
Pat Robertson Ithaca
James Felice St. John Fisher
Jake Catalano Stevens
Forest Stewart Ithaca
Tyler Wright Utica
Michael Gormley Stevens
Nathan Schaefer Stevens
Doug Wred Stevens
Sportsman of the Year
Name School
Kevin Dixon Alfred University
Zac Park Elmira College
James Trofa Hartwick College
Tyler Deuschle Houghton College
Jesse Capellaro Ithaca College
Tommy Lannon Nazareth College
Chuck Collins St. John Fisher College
Chris Banko Stevens Institute of Technology
Jon Kulpa Utica College