Ivy League Sports

The 1990s brought Cornell’s women athletes new successes with the elevation of softball to varsity status and the first Ivy League titles in such sports as field hockey, soccer, softball, and volleyball. In the latter part of the decade, several notable gifts to the program made possible the construction of important new facilities. In 1996, the Kane Sports Complex was dedicated, complete with new facilities for soccer, lacrosse, and track and field. Two years later, the newest women’s varsity sport gained a long-awaited field of its own. Softball, a long-time club sport until its elevation to varsity status in 1994, won its first ECAC title in 1997 with a victory against Harvard. The following April, Cornell softball fans gathered for the dedication of the Niemand-Robison Softball Field, named in honor of donors Arno P. Niemand ’56, a wrestler during his undergraduate years, and the late Ellis H. Robison ’18, who had earmarked an earlier gift to the school for women’s athletics. (Story, page 113) As fans entered the stands, they were given Cornell Big Red caps and boxes of Cracker Jacks, and then officially were welcomed to the new stadium in a ceremony presided over by Cornell President Hunter R. Rawlings, III. The momentous occasion climaxed with a doubleheader sweep of Dartmouth later that afternoon to keep the Big Red in the Ivy League hunt, but two days later, Cornell fell to eventual Ivy champion Harvard in a hard-fought doubleheader.

Good things would come to the Big Red the following spring, as the sixth-year program gained a road split with the Crimson, earning its first Ivy League title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

In addition to new facilities, the decade was marked by notable team and individual athletic accomplishments. Under long-time coach Randy May, the 1991 soccer team shared the Ivy League title with Dartmouth. In 1994, Cornell used a 2-0 win against No. 4 Hartford to achieve a national ranking of 14th and a number-one seed in the ECAC tournament, in which Cornell advanced to the final for the first time. The team marked its sixth straight appearance in the ECAC tournament in 1995, reaching the final for the second year in a row.

The volleyball team won its first Ivy League tournament in 1991 and followed up that victory with championships in 1992 and 1993, the latter of which led to an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the first participation of any Ivy League volleyball team in the NCAA postseason. Also winning Ivy titles during the decade was the field hockey program in 1991 and the ice hockey team, coached by former Harvard standout Julie Sasner, in 1996.

The cross country and track and field programs not only won a combined ten Ivy League titles during the decade but also achieved national prominence. After a second-place finish at the Heptagonal championships in 1990, national coaches ranked the cross country team 22nd out of 283 NCAA Division I schools — the first national ranking for Cornell. The team placed fourth that year at the ECAC championships. The following year, the team won the 1991 Heptagonal outdoor track and field championships by three points, the closest margin in history at the time. The team then entered the NCAA championships ranked tenth in the nation and took fourth place at the competition.

The 1991 indoor track and field competitors were responsible for some of the most outstanding performances in Cornell history. The team won its first indoor Heptagonal title, while Stephanie Best and Jennifer Cobb finished second and fifth, respectively, in the one-mile run at the NCAA championships, earning All-America honors. The 1991 outdoor track and field team also won its first Heptagonal championships, and the indoor team repeated as Heps champions in 1995. After that meet, coach Lou Duesing took three runners to the 1991 NCAA outdoor track and field championships. All three — Best, Pam Hunt, and Cobb — were awarded All-America honors, and Best finished third in the 1,500-meter run. In 1995, Jennifer Watkins earned 34 points and the most outstanding performer status, while the team claimed the Heptagonal title. Watkins won the javelin and discus, while also taking second in the shot put and third in the hammer throw. The outdoor track and field teams continued to mark successes through the decade, with first-place finishes at the Heptagonals in 1995 and 1997.

With a second straight Ivy League cross country title — and star Hunt becoming just the second Ivy woman to win two straight individual titles — Cornell again took fourth place at the NCAA Division I championships in 1992. The team three-peated at Heps in 1993, finished second at the ECAC championship, and again received a bid to the NCAA championship, placing fourth for the third straight year. The Big Red’s fourth Heptagonal title of the decade came in 1998.

After having won the National Collegiate Rowing Association (NCRA) championship in 1989, the 1990 crew finished second at the Eastern Sprints and third at the national championships. In 1992, the crew finished second at the NCRA championship, and in 1994, it finished third at the Sprints and at the nationals.

The tennis team won first place in the New York and ECAC championships in 1994, while making the team’s first appearance in the NCAA Eastern Regionals in 1996. Olga Itskhoki received the inaugural Ivy Player of the Year award for tennis in 1995, repeated the honor the following year, and became only the fourth player in League history to achieve first team All-Ivy honors in singles three times. Itskhoki, a native of Moscow, Russia, who arrived at Cornell with three years of eligibility, did not lose an Ivy League singles match during her career.

Cornell’s Olympic athletes during this period included handball player Keri Farley and rower Andrea Thies, both of whom competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Thies has served as an assistant rowing coach at Princeton since 1998.