Men's Cross Country | 11/29/2023 2:28:46 PM
The Empire 8 Conference is celebrating the league’s 25th Anniversary season in 2023-24, honoring student-athletes, teams, coaches and administrators who have played a key role in the league’s success over the last 25 years. Empire 8 Men’s Cross Country has enjoyed several individuals and teams that have excelled at the conference, national and regional levels.
Ithaca College won the inaugural E8 Men’s Cross Country Championship in 2003. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) would win four straight titles from 2004-2007 and five overall in a six-year period before Ithaca won seven straight championships from 2010-2016. Overall, the Bombers have an E8 best nine titles. Stevens Institute of Technology won its lone Empire 8 Championship in 2017 before Utica University earned its first two titles in 2018 and 2019. Nazareth University earned its first Empire 8 crown in the Spring of 2021 and won titles in Fall 2021 and 2022 before Houghton University won its first league championship in 2023.
Ithaca head coach Jim Nichols was a nine-time Empire 8 Coach of the Year, while Dave Warth of RIT earned four E8 Coach of the Year accolades and James Goss of Nazareth won three Coach of the Year honors.
Sawyer Hitchcock of Ithaca (2014 and 2015) and Grant Stokoe of St. John Fisher (Spring 2021, Fall 2021) are the lone student-athletes to win back-to-back E8 Championships and Runner of the Year honors. In addition, Cohen Miles-Rath of St. John Fisher University (2011) and Bennett Melita of Utica (2023) won E8 Runner of the Year and Rookie of the Year accolades in the same season. Jared Burdick of RIT, Sean Phillips of Ithaca, Nathan McNally of Nazareth and Ethan Billings of St. John Fisher are all four-time All-Empire 8 first team selections.
At the national level, Mike Styczynski (2003) and William Way (2010) of Ithaca earned All-American accolades, as did Jesse Williamson of RIT in 2006 and Nick Stenuf of Nazareth in 2008. Stenuf recorded the best E8 finish at nationals, placing 19th overall. Williamson earned a second place finish for RIT at the 2006 New York Region Championships. Ithaca (2003) RIT (2006 and 2009) earned NCAA team berths for nationals.
Below we are honoring members of the Empire 8 Men’s Cross Country 25th Anniversary Team. Recipients were chosen by the league office and were named either a Runner of the Year, Empire 8 Individual Champion, All-American or earned All-Empire 8 first team honors at least three times in their collegiate careers.
Empire 8 Men’s Cross Country 25th Anniversary Team
Greg Arabagian, Stevens
Curt Bell, Ithaca
Nathan Bickell, Ithaca
Ethan Billings, St. John Fisher
Jared Burdick, RIT
Nathan Bowers, Nazareth
Michael Cahill, Stevens
Shawn Calabrese, Ithaca
Tim Chappell, Ithaca
Tom Cunningham, Stevens
John Davis, Ithaca
Bernard Dauost, St. John Fisher
Tyler Deuschle, Houghton
Cade Eells, Nazareth
Brendan Epstein, Nazareth
Andrew Ford, St. John Fisher
Sawyer Hitchcock, Ithaca
Drew Hodge, Ithaca
Nate Lowe, RIT
Mitchell Marlow, Utica
Nathan McNally, Nazareth
Bennett Melita, Utica
Cohen Miles-Rath, St. John Fisher
Sean Phillips, Ithaca
Dave Russo, Houghton
Nick Stenuf, Nazareth
Grant Stokoe, St. John Fisher
Mike Styczynski, Ithaca
William Way, Ithaca
Jesse Williamson, RIT
Founded in 1999, the Empire 8 has developed into one of the premier NCAA Division III athletic conferences, both on the field and in the classroom. The conference has created and implemented innovative and groundbreaking sportsmanship programming over this time, many of our which have received great publicity, including features in USA Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The NCAA News, and various athletic profession publications. The Empire 8 has also been highly influential in helping to shape the Division III landscape, passing many legislative proposals along with individuals who hold leadership roles at the national level.
Feature stories and series’ celebrating the league’s 25th anniversary will be highlighted on the conference's website and social media platforms throughout the 2023-24 season, starting in September. The conference will also be using the #E825 and #E8Anniversary hashtags on its Twitter and Instagram platforms as a way for fans to follow along throughout the year.
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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