Big Games APRIL 28-29, 2006

At a time when lacrosse players were in the national news for all the wrong reasons, Cornell's squads had reasons to be proud of their accomplishments--both on and off the field. On April 28, the women's team defeated Harvard 17-8 to finish 6-1 in the Ivy League and share the league championship with Princeton. It was the first Ivy title for the women's program. The following day, the men downed Brown 10-6 to also claim a share of the Ivy League championship, their fourth straight finish atop the league. Both teams advanced to the NCAA tournament where, unfortunately, they were eliminated in the first round. The men fell to UMass, 11-10, while the women, hampered by injuries, were defeated 16-8 by Notre Dame.

Women's goaltender Maggie Fava '06 shared Ivy League Player of the Year honors with Princeton's Lauren Vance, and Fava joined teammates Margaux Viola '08, Anne Riordan '08, Courtney Farrell '09, and Katherine Simmons '09 on the All-Ivy first team. Not to be outdone, the men also garnered an impressive array of awards. Senior Joe Boulukos was named Ivy League Player of the Year, freshman Max Seibald was the unanimous winner of the Ivy League Rookie of the Year title, and five Big Red players were named first-team All-Ivy: Boulukos, Seibald, and juniors Mitch Belisle, Matt McMonagle, and David Mitchell.

The Big Red's on-field efforts were matched by their community service during the school year. The women's team held a dodge ball tournament that raised $2,200 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and participated in such other events as the Student Athlete Advisory Council's annual holiday food drive, National Women in Sports Day, and the Big Red Relief Concert for war victims. In April, the men's team held the second annual 21 Run, a fundraising event that honors former teammate George Boiardi '04, who died after being struck by a ball during a game in 2004. Co-sponsored with Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the Family Reading Partnership, the event raised $10,000 to support children's literacy. Earlier in the year, the 21 Dinner, honoring Boiardi as well as the late Dick Schaap '55, raised more than $50,000 for Teach for America. The men's team also assisted with youth lacrosse programs in Ithaca and launched the Save the Day program to raise funds for assisting critically and chronically ill children. Both lacrosse teams also pitched in for the American Red Cross blood drive this year.

Sport Shorts

WIN STREAK Another year, another Heps sweep for the Cornell men's and women's track and field teams. By winning the 2006 Heptagonal outdoor championships in Philadelphia, the Big Red ran its overall indoor and outdoor Heptagonal track championship streak to ten, dating back to the 2004 outdoor championships. Led by 800- meter winner Morgan Uceny '07 and heptathlon champion Jamie Greubel '06, the women set four meet records while taking the indoor and outdoor titles for the fifth straight season. The men rallied from a 60-22 first-day deficit to overtake Princeton for their fourth straight outdoor crown. The turning point came midway through the second day when Cornell took the top four spots in the 400-meter hurdles, led by Aaron Merrill '08.

DRAFT PICK Kevin Boothe '05 became the first Cornell player taken in the National Football League draft in nine years when the Oakland Raiders selected him in the sixth round. A 6-foot-5, 315-pound offensive lineman, Boothe earned first-team All-American honors with the Big Red in 2005. He was the only Ivy League player taken in this year's NFL draft.

HISTORIC FINISH A home crowd of more than 2,000 cheered the gymnastics team to a third-place finish in the USAG Collegiate nationals, the highest finish ever for a non-scholarship team. Led by Randi Bisbano '07, who was the top all-around performer in the team event, the Big Red scored a season-high 190.600 points. Colleen Davis '08 collected Cornell's lone first in the team event, winning the vault, while Bisbano took second in the beam competition. Davis and four other Cornell gymnasts--Megan Gilbert '08, Leslie Gregory '08, Kari Kucera '07, and Sari Tepper '09--earned All-American honors by placing in the top eight during the individual finals.

UPSETS In May, the Cornell lightweight crew astounded the experts by winning the Eastern Sprints, held on Lake Quinsigamond in Massachusetts. Seeded eighth, the Big Red surged to the front after 1,300 meters of the 2,000-meter Grand Final and held on to defeat Navy by three seconds. The J.V. lightweight boat also took first. Two weeks later, the lightweight varsity rowed to another national title, defeating Harvard by 0.08 second to win the 2006 IRA Regatta Grand Final on Cooper River in New Jersey.

COACHING CHANGE Women's ice hockey coach Melody Davidson resigned her position to accept a full-time job with Hockey Canada as head coach and general manager of the women's national team. In February, Davidson had led the Canadian women's team to a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. She will be replaced by Doug Derraugh '91, a former co-captain of the men's hockey team, who served as the interim women's coach last season.

BIG SPLASH Mike Smit '07 broke a 20-year-old school record and was named an All-American at the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships in Atlanta. Smit finished 14th in the 200-meter freestyle and was one of 14 swimmers to better the previous pool record. In the 100-meter freestyle, Smit swam a 44.37 in the preliminaries, bettering the previous Cornell record of 44.39 set by Randy Sprout '86, ME '87, in 1985. For the women's team, Jessica Brookman '06 earned a spot in the USA Swimming National Championships after setting a school record in the 200-meter butterfly at the Ivy League championships. At the national meet, Brookman placed 33rd in the 100-meter butterfly with a personal-best time of 1:03.85.

USA! USA!After signing with the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and practicing with the team during the final month of the regular season and through the playoffs, former Big Red goalie David McKee '07 was invited to join Team USA at the World Ice Hockey Championships in Latvia. This fall, McKee is expected to play for the Portland Pirates, the Ducks' American Hockey League affiliate, where he will rejoin former teammate Shane Hynes '06.