Ithaca Wrestling to Join SUNYAC Ahead of 2023-24 Season
SOURCE: athletics.ithaca.edu
October 05, 2023

 


SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The State University of New York Athletic Conference - a premier NCAA Division III conference - has added two new full-time member institutions, designated men's wrestling as its 22nd sport, and added five associate members that will compete in five different sports.

The announcement was made on Thursday, Oct. 5, by Commissioner Tom DiCamillo following approval by the SUNYAC Presidents Council.

SUNY Canton and SUNY Morrisville will join the SUNYAC as full-time members beginning in 2024-25, while Alfred State has been accepted as an associate member in the sports of men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field - also beginning next year.

With the SUNYAC adding men's wrestling to its roster of NCAA Division III sponsored sports, the conference has accepted Ithaca, RIT, St. John Fisher and Utica as associate members that will join Brockport, Cortland, Oneonta and Oswego to form an eight-team league under the SUNYAC umbrella. Wrestling competition will commence immediately for the 2023-24 season.

After absorbing the Northeast Women's Hockey League and making women's ice hockey its 21st sport this past summer, the SUNYAC will sponsor men's wrestling as its 22nd sport beginning this month after establishing an eight-team league from the remnants of the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference.

SUNYAC-member institutions Brockport, Cortland, Oneonta and Oswego ? all former members of the ECWC ? moved their programs under the SUNYAC banner and developed a conference championship that will be held in November of this year at RIT. Ithaca, RIT, St. John Fisher and Utica are four private institutions who were members of the ECWC as well with all four institutions accepting invitations to join the SUNYAC.

Ithaca has been a member of the ECWC since the 1991-92 season and won 16 conference championships during that time, and finished within the top three at the championship meet in 13 different seasons. Since its time in the ECWC, Ithaca produced nine national champions and 91 All-Americans. Ithaca also claimed the 1994 team national title while a member of the ECWC.

Prior to the establishment of the ECWC, Ithaca won back-to-back national championships in 1989 and 1990. The Bombers also secured more than 60 additional All-America honors from 1950 to 1991.

Susan Bassett '79, director of intercollegiate athletics and campus recreation, is pleased that most of the former ECWC teams will continue their traditional rivalries in the SUNYAC.

"Ithaca College is grateful that our wrestling program has found a home with the SUNYAC to assure a strong affiliation and sustain competition that the former ECWC provided," Bassett said. "Thank you to Commissioner Tom DiCamillo for providing the leadership to make this happen. We look forward to working with everyone on behalf of our wrestling student-athletes."

"We are very excited for the opportunity to compete with all the member schools in the SUNYAC, which helps us maintain some of our closest rivalries," said head coach Marty Nichols '90. "Thank you to Susan Bassett and Tom DiCamillo for their leadership in our transition from the ECWC to the SUNYAC."

Now in its 65th season of athletic competition, the SUNYAC is one of the strongest and most vibrant conferences in all of NCAA Division III that features 22 league championships and nearly 5,000 student athletes.


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