Four Fisher Teams Win E8 Championships

This spring, men’s golf, men’s track and field, softball, and women's lacrosse all took home Empire 8 Championships.

Eight Straight for Men’s Golf

For the eighth consecutive year, the St. John Fisher College men’s golf team claimed the Empire 8 Championship after the Cardinals posted a team score of 636 (+68) over the weekend at the Empire 8 Spring Championship at the par-71, 6,551-yard Hershey County Club East Course.

The Cardinals, who had three golfers finish in the top four and have now won 15 Empire 8 titles, which entered the tournament with a 28-stroke lead after its showing in the fall championship, finished the 72-hole championship with a combined score of 1221 (+77), ahead of second- and third-place teams from SUNY Oswego and Stevens Institute of Technology.

Nicholas Calabrese won the championship after carding a final round 82 (+11).  The junior, who was the only player to score under par during the fall championship, was named First-Team All-Conference after concluding the 72-hole championship at nine-over-par overall.  Calabrese led all players over the weekend with 20 pars while his two birdies were the second-most among all players.

The team received the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championship, which began on Tuesday, May 15, at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Track and Field Races to the Tops

On Saturday, May 5, the men’s track and field team posted a big performance, starting the day with a first place lead. At the completion of the meet, Peter Girardi was named Track Athlete of the Meet while Mark VanMarter took home Field Athlete of the Meet honors.

Girardi had a huge meet for the Cardinals with three first place finishes; setting a new facility record for the Polisseni Track and Field Complex in the 400-meter dash after he clocked in at a whopping 47.98 seconds. The Cicero native also took first place in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles with times of 14.35 and 54.51 seconds.

Hurdles turned out to be huge events for the Cardinals, as Fisher athletes took first, second, and third place in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles. For 110-meter hurdles, Eddie Mahana took second place and Kyle Rollins took third. Mahana took second in the 400-meter hurdles event, with Jack Behlmaier taking third place.

Senior James Felice gave Fisher the first place finish in the 1,500 meter race after he clocked in at an impressive 4:02.97. Mac Milligan nabbed the first place finish in the 5,000 meter race with a seething time of 15:55.48. The Cardinals team of Mahana, Girardi, Behlmaier, and Zak Kennedy came in second place in the 4X400 meter relay race.

When it came to field events, Kyle Rollins shined for the Cardinals. The freshman earned first place in the high jump with an astounding 2.01 meter leap. VanMarter took the number two spot in the triple jump.

Softball Repeats as Empire 8 Champs

For the second consecutive year, the St. John Fisher College softball team won the Empire 8 championship.

For the second consecutive year, the nationally-ranked and top-seeded St. John Fisher College softball team came out on top as the Cardinals defeated Utica College on Sunday, May 5, to claim the Empire 8 Championship and the Conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

Sarah Kubik was named the Championship’s Most Valuable Player after the Orchard Park native combined to go 3-for-5 with two home runs, five RBI, four runs scored, and three walks over three games.

Senior pitcher Lindsey Thayer moved to 20-3 in the circle after holding the Pioneers scoreless over five innings of work. Thayer surrendered just one hit on the day and finished with five strikeouts overall.  Thayer has now authored 1,455 career strikeouts and sits just three shy of breaking the all-time Division III mark for career strikeouts. Katie Mazierski, who had one hit in two at-bats, moved to within two hits of breaking the Empire 8 record for career hits.

The team went on to win the regional tournament, and will host Ithaca College in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship’s Super Regional round, beginning at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 18.

Lucky No. 7 for Women’s Lacrosse

For the seventh consecutive season, the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women’s lacrosse team has won the Empire 8 Conference Championship, after defeating the number one-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology in the championship game 14-6.

Fisher earned the Conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Championship with its ninth conference crown in program history. With the win, the No. 20 Cardinals increased their win-streak to 12 games, and improved their record to 17-2 overall on the season, tying the most wins in a single season since the 2016 season.

Claire Bollin was named the Empire 8 Championship’s Most Valuable Player after the senior made contributions all over the field during the weekend, totaling four goals, three assists, eight ground balls, four caused turnovers, and 16 draw controls.