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Title Recall - Seven Cross Country NCAA Division III National Titles

Title Recall: Seven Women's Cross Country National Titles

Cortland has captured more than 100 team and individual national titles throughout the years. While all of these championships have been documented, the time has come to dig deeper into some of these Red Dragon accomplishments with "Title Recall." This feature goes beyond the numbers by gaining insight into the competition itself from the student-athletes and their coaches. We'll gain perspectives into what it takes, both physically and mentally, to be a Cortland champion.

Our seventh installment of "Title Recall" takes a look back at women's cross country's seven NCAA Division III titles in the late 1980s and early 1990s (1989-90, 1992-95, 1997). This Title Recall will be different from our others - instead of our normal format of interview questions, we're instead sharing the following info:

Written interviews conducted with some of the participants, conducted by current runner Shannon Imbornoni '21

Becky (Bieber) Shaw '90
Vicki Mitchell '91
Tammie (Miller) Bernhardt '94
Michelle LaFleur '95
Heather (Swarts) Webster '96
Heidi (Swarts) Appleby '96

"D3 Glory Days" podcasts, featuring interviews with runners from the teams, along with head coach Jack Daniels

SUNY Cortland Dynasty Part 1 - The Rise (featuring Judy Sparks, Vicki Mitchell, Tammie Miller)
SUNY Cortland Dynasty Part 2 - The Peak (featuring Michelle LaFleur, Heather Swarts, Heidi Swarts)
SUNY Cortland Dynasty Part 3 - The End of an Era (featuring Julie Donnelly, Cindy Lauzon, Mickey Kelly)
SUNY Cortland Dynasty Part 4 - Jack Daniels

Summaries of the titles, compiled by Jack Daniels when the teams held a reunion in 2009

1989 (team score: 29 points)
(1) Marybeth Crawley
(2) Judy Sparks
(5) Vicki Mitchell
(15) Michelle Lauritzen
(18) Michelle Franklin
(20) Mary Selleck
6 All Americans, plus Tracy Swarts

1990 (team score: 43 points)
(1) Vicki Mitchell
(5) Michelle LaFleur
(8) Becky Bieber
(22) Sharon Whitmore
4 All Americans, plus Tammie Miller, Amy Martin and Beth Hemmett (Miller placed 26th; All-America honors were later changed from top 25 to top 35)

NOTE: 1991 team missed winning national title by five points (103 to 98)

1992 (team score: 18 points - NCAA record for winning score)
(2) Michelle LaFleur
(3) Beth Hemmett
(5) Tammie Miller
(7) Ann Delsignore
(17) Tracy Swarts
5 All Americans, plus Heidi Swarts  and Heather Swarts
(Heidi Swarts finished 31st; top 35 became All-Americans one year later)

1993 (team score: 61 points)
(2) Tammie Miller
(11) Heather Swarts
(22) Heidi Swarts
(29) Dorothy Donnolly
(30) Julie Donnolly
5 All Americans, plus Michelle LaFleur and Amy Martin

1994 (team score: 54 points)
(1) Michelle LaFleur
(9) Heather Swarts
(17) Julie Donnelly
(28) Heidi Swarts
(30) Dorothy Donnolly
5 All Americans, plus Diane Woodward and Marissa Formes

1995 (team score: 46 points)
(2) Heather Swarts
(8) Julie Donnelly
(17) Michelle Franklin
(25) Heidi Swarts (who lost a shoe in the race)
(31) Cindy Lauzon
5 All Americans, plus Liz Wilson and Jen Bozek

1997 (team score: 148 points - then an NCAA record for highest winning score)
(10) Mickey Kelly
(16) Cindy Lauzon
(31) Theresa Trudell
3 All Americans, plus Jen Bozek, Teresa Garofalo, Kelly Milks and Jennifer Butts

NOTE: 1998 team had the individual national champion (Cheryl Smith)

Summary of Cortland's Seven NCAA Championship Teams:

* Three Individual National Champions
* Four Individual 2nd-place finishers
* 33 All-Americans

* Three runners were on a national championship team all four years (Michelle LaFleur, Heather and Heidi Swarts)

* Record vs. NCAA Division III teams:  beat 454, lost to 1
* Record vs. NCAA Division II teams:  beat 72, lost to 7
* Record vs. NCAA Division I teams:  beat 91, lost to 34
 

NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY

Most Team Championships (through 2019 season)


SUNY Cortland           7
Johns Hopkins            6
Middlebury                   6
St. Thomas (MN)        4
Wis.-Oshkosh              4
Williams                       3

Most Individual Championships (through 2019 season)

SUNY Cortland             4
Wartburg                        3
Wisconsin-Oshkosh     3
Nine schools tied at     2


 
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