SUNY Cortland is among 442 colleges and universities nationwide celebrating the NCAA's inaugural Division III Week April 9-15. Division III is the largest division within the NCAA, which administers 28 Division III championships. Division III institutions comprise nearly 42 percent of the NCAA's membership and nearly 180,000 student-athletes compete at the Division III level each season.

* Cortland is scheduled to host home contests in men's lacrosse (April 11 vs. Geneseo at 4 p.m.), baseball (April 11 vs. Ithaca at 4 p.m., April 13 vs. Fredonia at 3 p.m., April 14 doubleheader vs. Fredonia at noon), softball (doubleheader April 13 vs. Rochester at 3 p.m.) and women's lacrosse (April 14 vs. New Paltz at 1 p.m.).

* Cortland's SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee) is holding a ceremony to honor and thank College faculty and staff members for their contributions to the athletic program and student-athletes. The ceremony will take place on Friday, April 13, at 2:40 p.m. prior to Cortland's home softball doubleheader vs. Rochester at Dragon Field.

* SUNY Cortland President Dr. Erik J. Bitterbaum discusses the College's pride in being one of the nation's top Division III institutions in an open letter.

* You can view a video here from NCAA President Mark Emmert discussing the NCAA Division III Week celebration.

* Various Cortland student-athletes will be featured talking about how SUNY Cortland and the Division III experience have played an important role in their lives. Those brief stories, courtesy of SUNY Cortland staff writer Mike Bersani, can be viewed below, with new additions each day through April 14.


Jordan Miller, a two-sport student-athlete from Liverpool, N.Y., initially came to Cortland to play for its women's soccer team then picked up another varsity sport during her first year on campus. Now in her senior year, Miller is a captain and a key contributor for the women's lacrosse team.

“I didn't think I'd be able to handle two sports in college,” Miller said. “If anything, it helped me, especially academically.”




Alyson Dalton, a two-time All-America cross country runner from Sherrill, N.Y., knew of Cortland's storied athletic past from her father, Mark, a former Red Dragon swimmer. A future physical therapy student at SUNY Upstate Medical University, she wanted to run for a nationally recognized program where she could star.

“At Cortland, I knew I could run well and be a big fish in a little pond, not the other way around,” Dalton said.




Abby Martin, a two-position softball star from Oswego, N.Y., transferred from Division I Monmouth University to be closer to home. She found a national championship contender that, as she puts it, “plays for a love of the game.”

“I knew when I came to Cortland that (head coach Julie Lenhart) wanted me,” Martin said. “It felt like I was at home.”




Mike Tota, a captain of the undefeated men's lacrosse team, manages the perfect balancing act for academics and athletics. The All-America attackman and business economics major carries a 4.06 grade point average in the classroom, good enough to win him the College's Irmgard Mechlenburg Taylor Award for having the highest marks of Phi Kappa Phi honors society members in the School of Arts and Sciences.

“It's all about time management,” Tota said. “If you're willing to get ahead, life as a Division III student-athlete should be rewarding and manageable.”



Lindsay Abbott, a three-time All-America women's lacrosse midfielder from South Onondaga, N.Y., flew under the recruiting radar in high school. She's now the all-time leader in goals and assists for the nationally second-ranked Red Dragons squad.

“People tell me that I could have played Division I lacrosse,” Abbott said. “But honestly, the experience that I had at Cortland, I wouldn't trade it for anything.”