For the first time since the Ivy League added baseball 20 years ago, Cornell won the championship. But it wasn’t easy. The team went into the last weekend of the regular season needing one win in four games against Princeton to claim the Lou Gehrig Division. They dropped a doubleheader on Saturday and lost the first game on Sunday. The second contest went into extra innings—and then a dramatic home run by Ben Swinford ’14, with two out in the 12th, nailed down the divisional title. In the best-of-three league championship series against Dartmouth, Cornell won the first game 11-3 but lost the second 7-1—and the tiebreaker once again went into extra innings. Then, in the bottom of the 11th, sophomore Chris Cruz belted a walk-off home run to secure the championship. Cornell advanced to the NCAA tournament, where it had to face perennial powerhouse North Carolina. The Tar Heels, ranked number six in the country, won a hard-fought game 7-4. The next day, the Big Red’s season ended with a loss to East Carolina—but it could not diminish the luster of a truly exceptional season that saw Cornell win 31 games, setting a program record.
Sports Shorts
ALL-AMERICANS Capping off an outstanding freshman season, Danielle Letourneau ’15 was named a first-team All-American by the College Squash Association. Letourneau went 12-6 atop the Big Red lineup and finished the season ranked ninth in the nation. Teammate Jaime Laird ’13 earned second-team All-American honors for the second straight season after going 11-7 at No. 2. Three players on the men’s team earned second-team All-American honors: Nick Sachvie ’13, Alexander Domenick ’12, and Thomas Spettigue ’12.
NEW LEADERS Cornell recently welcomed two head coaches to the Hill. Patrick Farmer, who had spent the last three seasons as an assistant women’s soccer coach at Wisconsin, was named head coach of women’s soccer. He has a record of 261-97-40 in 19 seasons as head coach at Ithaca College, Penn State, Tennessee Tech, and Syracuse, and ranks 13th in victories among active Division I women’s soccer coaches. Melissa Batie-Smoose will guide the volleyball program after four seasons at Savannah College of Art & Design. In addition to one year as head coach at Nova Southeastern, Batie-Smoose also served as an assistant at Florida State, Wake Forest, Creighton, and UNC-Charlotte.
TOPS IN TRACK The women’s track and field team returned to familiar turf, winning the 2012 Outdoor Heptagonal Championships in May. The Big Red reclaimed the crown from defending champion Princeton, beating the runner-up Tigers by 24 points for its ninth title in 11 seasons. Cornell scored points in 20 of the 23 events, including first-place finishes by Katie Kellner ’13 in the 10,000 meters, Molly Glantz ’12 in the 400 meter hurdles, Ailish Hanly ’13 in the high jump, Victoria Imbesi ’13 in the shot put, and the 4×400 relay team. The men’s team won eight events and finished second in a close battle with Princeton.
WORLD CHAMPS Helped by the efforts of four Big Red players and their coach, Canada won its first Women’s World Hockey Championship since 2007, scoring a 5-4 overtime win against the U.S. team in the title game. Laura Fortino ’13, Rebecca Johnston ’11, Brianne Jenner ’13, and Lauriane Rougeau ’13 played in all five tournament games for Canada, which had Cornell head coach Doug Derraugh ’91 behind the bench as an assistant coach.
LAX HONOR Longtime men’s lacrosse coach Richie Moran was honored with the 2012 Spirit of Tewaaraton Award, given to an individual involved with lacrosse who reflects the spirit of the Tewaarton Award and has made a significant contribution to society and the lives of others. During his 29 seasons as head coach at Cornell, Moran led the Big Red to three NCAA championships and 15 Ivy League titles. He was named the national coach of the year three times and was head coach of Team USA at the 1978 World Lacrosse Championships.
BEST MARKS As part of its Elite 89 program, the NCAA is honoring the student-athlete with the top GPA at each of its 89 national championship events. Cornell’s Shelly Tremaglio ’13 was named the Elite 89 winner at the Division I Women’s Rowing Championships. Tremaglio carried a GPA of 4.062 into the championships, with a double major in history and French.
CYCLONE COACH Four-time All-American wrestler Troy Nickerson ’10 will begin his collegiate coaching career at Iowa State as an assistant. Nickerson spent the last two seasons training in an unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials and also served as a coach for the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club.
CLOSE CALL The women’s polo team came within one match of defending its national championship, losing to Virginia 17-13 in a rematch of the 2011 title tilt. Cornell trailed by one at halftime before UVA scored three straight goals to pull away in the third chukker. Kailey Eldredge ’14 led all scorers with 10 points. The men’s team also saw its season ended by UVA, losing 28-10 in the national semifinals.
NEWSMAKER Looking for a way to track all your sports news in one place? David Chen ’06, MBA ’10, has an app for that. Chen is founder of RECAPP, a free app that organizes content from the Web to make it
easier to get news about your favorite teams—including the Big Red. The app is currently available only on iTunes, but an Android version is planned.
MIXED BLESSING A wrestler during his time at Cornell, John Cholish ’06 is making a name for himself in the mixed martial arts (MMA) world. After losing his May 5 fight with Danny Castillo, Cholish had an MMA record of 8-2. He also has a day job with Beacon OTC Group, an energy commodities trader on Wall Street.
Spring Teams
Final Records
| Baseball | 31-17-1; 14-6 Ivy (1st, Gehrig Div.) |
| Men’s Lacrosse | 9-4; 4-2 Ivy (T-2nd) |
| Women’s Lacrosse | 11-5; 5-2 Ivy (T-2nd) |
| Men’s Polo | 11-8 |
| Women’s Polo | 13-6 |
| Varsity Hvywt. Rowing | 6-1 |
| J.V. Hvywt. Rowing | 7-0 |
| Fr. Hvywt. Rowing | 7-1 |
| Varsity Ltwt. Rowing | 4-3 |
| J.V. Ltwt. Rowing | 4-2 |
| Fr. Ltwt. Rowing | 4-3 |
| Women’s Varsity Rowing | 6-5 |
| Women’s J.V. Rowing | 3-8 |
| Softball | 25-23; 15-5 Ivy (2nd, South Div.) |
| Men’s Tennis | 10-15; 3-4 Ivy (T-4th) |
| Women’s Tennis | 9-10; 1-6 Ivy (8th) |