Men's Swimming and Diving | 1/25/2024 10:26:38 AM
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 Swimming and Diving has enjoyed several individuals and teams that have excelled at the conference, national and regional levels.
Hartwick College won the inaugural Empire 8 Championship in 2000 before earning its second title in 2006. Stevens entered the league in 2007 and won eight titles in 13 seasons, including seven straight crowns from 2013-2019. Alfred University has won six championships, including five from 2003 to 2009 before claiming the 2023 E8 title. Ithaca College won five Empire 8 titles, while Nazareth University claimed its first two league championships in 2019-20 and 2021-22.
Alfred head coach Brian Striker, who earned All-American honors as a student-athlete at Alfred in 1999 and 2000 and is a member of the 25th anniversary team below, transitioned into head coaching role in 2002 and has earned seven E8 Coach of the Year honors and six league championships. Ithaca’s Kevin Markwardt was a five-time E8 Coach of the Year, while Brad Thornton of Stevens also earned three Coach of the Year plaudits. Hartwick head coach Dale Rothenberger is the longest serving E8 head coach, having been a part of all 25 Empire 8 seasons. He was the 2006 Empire 8 Coach of the Year.
Simas Jarasunas of Stevens was the Empire 8’s first individual national champion, winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 2013. In 2015, Matt Morrison of Ithaca earned national runner-up honors in the 3-meter diving event. The league has had several multiple-time All-Americans in 25 seasons. RIT’s Erik Zelbacher and Joshua Lefeber of Stevens both hold the Empire 8 record with eight individual league titles. Lefeber holds the league record with 17 total titles (individual and relay). His teammate, Tomasz Wolinski was a part of 13 relay championships.
Below we are honoring members of the Empire 8 Men’s Swimming and Diving 25th Anniversary Team. Recipients were chosen by the league office and were named either a Swimmer of Diver of the Year, Swimmer or Diver of the Empire 8 Championship Meet, three-time Empire 8 Individual Champion, All-American (relays included) or earned All-Empire 8 first team honors at least five times (over various events) in their collegiate careers.
Empire 8 Men’s Swimming and Diving 25th Anniversary Team
Swimming
Conor Arcuri, Stevens
Brian Argo, Alfred
Matt Baker, Alfred
Steve Barnes, Ithaca
Alexander Benham, Stevens
Miles Blaney, Hartwick
Andrew Brisson, Alfred
Chris Cadwell, Ithaca
John Carr, Ithaca
Gregory Charriez, Stevens
Antoine Connors, Ithaca
Alexander Crowell, Alfred
Ben Detar, Hartwick
Kaird Durocher, Hartwick
Wesley Elford, Stevens
Seth Farrand, Nazareth
Ethan Gehenio, Stevens
Shawn Hanak, Stevens
Addison Hebert, Ithaca
Tyler Hessler, Stevens
Bryan Held, Stevens
Dan Holmberg, Hartwick
John Hu, Stevens
Joseph Huyett, Stevens
Simas Jarasunas, Stevens
Sean Kavanaugh, Ithaca
Patrick Kerwin, Alfred
Kenny Kleso, Hartwick
Peter Knight, Ithaca
John Koch, Nazareth
Zack Kundel, Ithaca
Sasha Kuznezov, Ithaca
Joshua Lefeber, Stevens
Chris Maiello, Hartwick
Kevin Martin, Alfred
Matt McNamara, Alfred
Daniel Munt, Stevens
Carl Nagle, Stevens
Nicolas Noga, Stevens
Ryan Orser, Ithaca
Dan Pecoraro, Stevens
Cory Perez, Hartwick
Mark Phillips, Hartwick
Michael Phillips, Hartwick
Matt Plunkett, Hartwick
Brad Ranson, Hartwick
Jake Robbins, Ithaca
Lydon Schultz, Hartwick
Mikey Schultz, Hartwick
Carl Schwarting, Alfred
Brandon Striker, Alfred
Brian Striker, Alfred
Todd-Michael Striker, Alfred
Ravi Sun, Stevens
Miguel Vargas, Hartwick
Matt Weems, Alfred
Tomasz Wolinski, Stevens
Evan Wilson, Stevens
Alexander Xu, Stevens
Austen Young, Stevens
Tyler Zankl, Stevens
Erik Zelbacher, RIT
Adam Zelehowsky, Ithaca
Diving
Jack Armstrong, Hartwick
Martin Brown, Ithaca
Kameron Chambliss, Alfred
Chris Deaver, Alfred
Quinn Donahoe, RIT
Matt Joseph, RIT
Matt Morrison, Ithaca
Matt Patton, Utica
Derek Rand, Ithaca
Ryan Schaefer, RIT
Jake Smith, Nazareth
Sidney Taylor, Nazareth
Kyle Washington, Hartwick
Evan Wendt, 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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