Ithaca College earned its 15th-straight Empire 8 Commissioner's Cup following the conference's announcement on Wednesday, May 27. Standings for the Commissioner's Cup are determined by schools' finish in standings or championship tournaments within conference sports.
Ithaca, which sponsors 22 of the league's 23 sports, totaled 148 points out of a possible 167 good for a percentage of .886. Ithaca has placed ahead of second-place Stevens Institute of Technology each of the last seven years.
The Bombers paced the E8 with 61 points in the fall after winning 6-of-9 possible championships. That included football, men's cross country, women's cross country, women's tennis, women's soccer and women's golf.
Ithaca continued to excel in the winter session, as the Bombers led the conference with 99 points out of a possible 112. Ithaca earned titles in women's swimming & diving and women's indoor track & field. The Bombers took runner-up in men's swimming & diving, women's basketball and men's indoor track & field.
The Bombers closed out the year with championship points in baseball and women's outdoor track & field. Men's outdoor track & field, men's tennis, women's lacrosse and men's lacrosse all earned second-place finishes to complete the spring season.
Commissioner's Cup points are awarded based on each team's finish in the Empire 8 standings at the completion of the season. Points are awarded on a scale dependent upon the number of schools that sponsor the sport. Affiliate members are not calculated into the point scale.
The conference championship team in each sport receives the highest amount of points, followed by the runner-up. Teams tied for a position are ranked based on tiebreaker scenarios. The actual amount of points earned is then divided by the amount of possible points for each school based on conference-sponsored sports to determine percentage.
