Sports Shorts
Stephen Bâby
INTO THE HALL The Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame expanded in November with the addition of the eleven members of the Class of 2014. The newest honorees are Stephen Bâby ’03, men’s ice hockey; George Boiardi ’04, men’s lacrosse/special category; David Eckel ’58, men’s cross country and track and field; Clarence G. Fauntleroy ’54, men’s lacrosse; Hannah Garrity ’04, women’s track and field; Carrie Giancola ’02, women’s lacrosse; Mike Kalfopoulos ’85, baseball; Michael LaRocco ’96, men’s lacrosse; Debbie Quibell ’04, volleyball; Ricky Rahne ’02, football; and Kate Varde ’04, softball.
NICE THROW Pitcher Brent Jones ’15 lived up to the expectations of being Cornell’s highest baseball draft pick, going 7-3 with a 3.29 ERA for two teams in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. This summer, Jones started with the Hillsboro (Oregon) Hops in the short-season Class A Northwestern League, going 2-1 in six starts. That earned him a promotion to the South Bend (Indiana) Silver Hawks, a long-season Class A team in the Midwest League, where he was 5-2 with one shutout while helping the team to a division title. The Diamondbacks made Jones their fourth-round selection in the 2014 amateur draft after he struck out 47 batters while allowing only 13 walks in 50 innings for the Big Red in the spring.
HORSE SENSE Joanna Novakovic ’04 is the new head coach of the Big Red equestrian team. She has been working at a pair of Ithaca-area stables since graduation, in addition to jobs as a research assistant on campus and a therapist with Family Counseling Services of Cortland County. She has won four U.S. Equestrian Federation national championships as a professional rider and one Welsh Pony & Cob Society of America national title.
STICKS & STATUS For the first time in its history, Cornell field hockey has been ranked among the top teams in the country. After getting off to a 7-1 start, the Big Red earned the 19th spot in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Poll for September 30. The start included a seven-game winning streak.
KICK STAR Chris Fraser ’17 is gaining attention as one of the nation’s best punters. Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2013, he was named the College Football Performance Awards’ Punter of the Week this fall. That week against Bucknell, he had three punts downed inside the 12-yard line; the fourth went a career-long 72 yards.
Tracy Eisser.
ROW THEIR BOATS After two years as a volunteer with the Big Red lightweight rowing team, Bill Brumsted ’11 has been named an assistant coach. A four-year member of the team as an undergrad, Brumsted was responsible for the lightweight third varsity eight boat that posted back-to-back undefeated regular seasons and helped the lightweight crew program win the 2014 Jope Cup as the top scoring team at the Eastern Sprints. In other news, Cornell rowers continued to post impressive results through the summer. Daniel O’Neill ’17 and Jack Ruske ’17 won the men’s under-23 pairs race at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catherines, Ontario, one of the top meets in North America. And Tracy Eisser ’12 helped the United States take a bronze medal in the women’s quad at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.
ON THE MAT After an incredible freshman season, Gabe Dean ’16 showed he’s as successful in international wrestling as he is at the collegiate level. Competing in his first international meet, Dean finished third at 84 kilograms in the FILA Junior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Dean easily won his first two matches, but lost by one point in the quarterfinals to a wrestler from KazakhÂstan who eventually finished second. Dean then rallied through the comeback bracket and won the third-place bout by injury default. During the collegiate season, Dean went 40-3 and finished third in the NCAA championships at 186 pounds.
CONFERENCE CALL Noreen Morris ’87 was named the inaugural Conference Commissioner of the Year from the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC). Morris is in her fifth season as Commissioner of the Northeast Conference (NEC). During Morris’s tenure, the NEC has landed TV rights deals that have resulted in every football and basketball game being aired by a national carrier. Morris was a two-year letter winner on the Big Red soccer team and went on to serve in administrative positions at the University of Connecticut, Northwestern University, and Conference USA before joining the NEC.