Ithaca College

The Bomber varsity 8 boat, whose members are pictured here, capped the weekend by winning a gold medal in the grand final.

Sacramento, Calif., May 30 -- Ithaca College has won the 2004 women's crew national championship, recording the lowest score at the NCAA championships, held at Lake Natoma in Sacramento.

Contributing to the achievement was a first-place finish by the varsity 8 boat in the grand final and an unprecedented performance by the second varsity 8 boat. The national title is the first for the IC women's crew program; Ithaca had placed third in each of the previous two NCAA Division III championship events.

"If I were writing this myself, I couldn't have written a better finish," said Coach Becky Robinson, a 1988 Ithaca graduate and member of the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. "Watching it unfold was just incredible."

The national championship is the 14th won by Ithaca College athletics and the second in three years (IC won the 2002 NCAA softball championship). Ithaca has also won NCAA titles in football (three), wrestling (three), baseball (two), women's soccer (two) and field hockey (one). The 1998 gymnastics team won the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association championship.

• Complete release
• Ithaca Wins the Div. III National Championship

Photo courtesy of Steven Lahr '75, associate professor of physical therapy.

Contributed by Michael Warwick