Women's Swimming and Diving | 4/15/2020 2:29:47 PM
Fellow East Ave. rivals Nazareth College and St. John Fisher College swept all six Empire 8 Winter Sports Championships during the 2019-20 season. The Golden Flyers won both swimming and diving titles that wrapped up on Feb. 22, while a week later, the Cardinals swept both indoor track and field and a pair of basketball championships. Check out a capsule of each of the eight 2019 Empire 8 Fall Championships below.
Women’s Swimming and Diving – Nazareth College won its third straight Empire 8 Championship defeating runner-up Hartwick College by nearly 200 points. Nazareth first-year standout Abigail Santos shared Swimmer of the Meet honors and was the Rookie of the Meet, while sophomore Allie Norwood won her second straight Diver of the Meet accolade. The Golden Flyers won 10 individual or relay events at the championship meet held at Webster Aquatic Center.
Men’s Swimming and Diving – Nazareth received tremendous contributions from throughout its lineup to secure its first Empire 8 title in program history, holding off Hartwick and Alfred University. Nazareth junior John Koch was named Swimmer of the Meet, while classmate Sidney Taylor swept both diving events to earn Diver of the Meet honors. Overall, the Golden Flyers took 15 individual or relay events at the championship meet.
Women’s Indoor Track and Field – A balanced effort led St. John Fisher to its first Empire 8 Women’s Indoor Track and Field title in program history. The Cardinals held a 20-point lead after the opening day and expanded on that during the final day to defeat runner-up Utica College by 32 points. Utica’s Eshone Cofield-Jackson and Katrina Cornick swept the Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Meet honors, respectively. St. John Fisher first-year standout Riley Corey led the charge for her team by winning a pair of distance events.
Men’s Indoor Track and Field – The duo of senior Eddie Mahana and junior Kyle Rollins were key contributors in leading the Cardinals of St. John Fisher to their third Empire 8 Championship in program history. Mahana won both the 60-meter hurdles (in a conference record time of 8.02 seconds) and 400-meter dash. Rollins took all three jumping events (high jump, long jump and triple jump) to claim his second straight Empire 8 Indoor Championship Field Athlete of the Meet honor. Utica senior Mitchell Marlow won the mile run, in addition to 3,000- and 5,000-meter titles to claim Indoor Track Athlete of the Meet accolades.
Women’s Basketball – Top-seed St. John Fisher rolled to double-digit wins over No. 4 seed Hartwick and second-seeded Sage to claim its fifth Empire 8 Championship overall and first since 2014-15. The Cardinals, who won the regular season crown with a 12-2 mark, opened the championship game versus Sage with runs of 11-0 and 19-4 and never looked back in an eventual 74-53 win. Sophomore Miranda Lynch was named the Empire 8 Tournament MVP after averaging 17 points per game and shooting 55 percent from the floor during the tourney. Classmate Amy Gardner knocked down six 3-pointers to score a game-high 27 points in the title game. The Cardinals finished the season with a 21-7 overall record.
Men’s Basketball – Second-seeded St. John Fisher knocked off No. 3 seed Utica in the semifinals and top-seeded Nazareth, 72-64 in the championship game to secure its record ninth Empire 8 title in program history. The Cardinals rallied from a 20-point deficit, using a 27-5 run to grab a lead early in the second half. Nazareth would go on another big run later in the second half before St. John Fisher scored 13 of the final 14 points to earn the win. Seniors Dennis Hare and Sammy Robinson led the way for the Cardinals. Hare scored a game-high 22 points in the title game on his way to earning E8 Tournament MVP honors. Robinson, the 2020 Empire 8 Player of the Year, added 21 points and six boards.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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