200 Memories Central

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Welcome back to our celebration of 200 moments, memories, coaches and student-athletes from the history of Lycoming College athletics. In this 13th series of moments, we take a look at the only track and field All-American in the history of the College, a hot-hitting volleyball player and the start of an annual Division III wrestling tradition.

With no more ado, here are moments 121-130 in our series of 200:

121. Greg Corbo, 1995 – With a breakthrough performance at the Middle Atlantic Conference Men’s Golf Championships, sophomore Greg Corbo tied a 22-year-old school record for the best performance at the event, as he finished tied for third with a three-round score of 238, finishing just six strokes behind the winner. Although the Montclair, N.J., native never earned All-MAC honors again, he went on to help found the men's lacrosse program, playing on the club team in 1996 before returning to golf his senior year, where he finished 17^th at the MAC Championships and helped the Warriors to a perfect 4-0 dual-meet mark. Corbo is still active in the game and every September, he organizes the “Be a Hero for Zero” Memorial Caddie Walk, where caddies from North Jersey golf courses walk 20 miles from West Orange, N.J., to and around the Ground Zero site in Manhattan to honor those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

122. 1995 MAC Champions – In her third season as head coach of the softball team, Christen Ditzler, was in the midst of building the softball program. Already, the fledgling program, which started in 1990, had picked up its first regular season Freedom League crown in 1994 and with two returning all-conference players in 1995, the team was once again a favorite in 1995. The Warriors made good on the promise, starting with a five-inning no-hitter by freshman Sally Snyder, a Jersey Shore, Pa., native, in a 13-0 win over Marywood on opening day. With the best pitching duo in the league in first-team all-conference selections sophomore Mary Beth Schwindenhammer, a hard thrower from Bethlehem, Pa., and Snyder, the team went 18-7 in the regular season and won the Freedom League title with a 10-2 mark. However, after a two-week break between their last game and the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship, the Warriors struggled in their first game of the tournament, falling to Messiah, 7-2. The team rebounded, though, as Schwindenhammer threw a five-hit shutout against Wilkes in a 3-0 win. Needing to win three games on Saturday, May 6, the Warriors did just that, as Snyder threw eight innings in a four-hit shutout to beat Messiah, 4-0. Tressa Brown hit a bases-loaded triple in the top of the eighth, setting up a do-or-die game with Moravian. In five innings, the Warrior offense came alive to take the 10-2 win, as they scored eight runs in the second inning, as Schwindenhammer started the rally with an eight-run second inning. In the championship game, the Warriors broke open a 4-3 game by scoring the last five runs of the game. Brown was magnificent on Saturday, as she reached safely eight consecutive at bats and finished the day 8-for-11 with two triples, five RBI and five runs scored. Snyder, who pitched the championship game on Saturday, was named the tournament MVP, as she allowed just three runs in 19 innings during the tournament. The Warriors finished the year 22-8 overall and four players earned all-conference honors, as Lynda Thomas and Erica Weaver also picked up honors with Snyder and Schwindenhammer.

123. Jen Orchowski, 1995 – During her four-year career at Lycoming College, Jen Orchowski left a lasting mark from her first heave of the javelin to her last. The Elkland, Pa., native claimed the MAC title as a freshman with a throw of 122-8. As a sophomore, she made a tremendous leap, qualifying for the NCAA Division III Championships with a school-record throw of 129-9 at the Susquehanna University Invitational and she won her second MAC title with a throw of 129-8. At the NCAA meet in Northfield, Minn., Orchowski, throwing with a borrowed javelin, posted the ninth-best throw in the preliminary round to move into the semifinals and then posted the sixth-best toss, where she fouled on her first two attempts during the rainy day, before unleashing a 127-1 to help her finish seventh and earn All-American honors. In her last two years, Orchowski finished second in the MAC in the javelin throw.

124. Michelle Forney, 1995 – As Sonny Kirkpatrick began to build the volleyball program, his first recruiting class included Michelle Forney. The outside hitter made an immediate impact, earning First Team All-Freedom League honors as a freshman. As a sophomore, she improved, finishing 16^th in the nation in hitting percentage at .380 and 29^th in kills per set at 4.04 while helping the Warriors finish second in the nation with a .334 hitting percentage while finishing above .500 for the first time. That all set up one of the greatest offensive seasons in the program’s history, when she earned her third straight All-Freedom League honors in 1995. Forney finished second in the nation with a .474 hitting percentage, helping the team also finish second in the nation in the category at .341, helping to lead the team to its first of four straight regular-season Freedom League titles. Forney’s  gaudy hitting percentage is still the school record and is 10^th in NCAA Division III history. Her .426 career hitting percentage is also a school record and her 3.43 kills per set average is fourth.

125. Budd Whitehill National Duals, 1995-Present – The Division III Wrestling Duals was a unique concept in 1989 when eight of the top teams in the nation came together at Ithaca College for a dual meet tournament. Created at the same time as the NWCA Cliff Keen Duals, the Division III National Duals filled a void in small-college wrestling. The NWCA National Duals only invited the Division III champion to its tournament before the event expanded to include Division II, III and NAIA brackets in 2001. In 1989, though, it was easy to see how vital and exciting a Division III national dual meet tournament could be. It was a quick success and the event jumped from eight teams to 16 teams in 1990, when Lycoming competed in the event for the first time, finishing fifth under head coach Budd Whitehill. Under the guidance of head coach Roger Crebs, Lycoming College made a successful bid to host the event at Lamade Gymnasium in 1995. The two-day event, with four mats laid across the long gym floor, was an immediate fit on the Williamsport campus. In 1996, a coaches’ vote after the tournament kept the event in Williamsport and it has never left. At the same coaches’ meeting after the 1996 tournament that determined to keep the Duals in Williamsport, it was also decided to change the name to the Budd Whitehill National Duals, in memory of the former Lycoming wrestling coach. In 23 years, the Budd Whitehill National Duals has seen its fair share of memorable moments. The College of New Jersey has won a record nine titles at the event, including six in the 1990s. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse also had a dominating run at the tournament, winning three crowns in a five-year span from 2000-04. Lycoming has also had its share of success at the event, winning titles in 1997 and 1999 and placing at the event 17 times, second only to TCNJ, which has earned its way onto the platform 22 times.

126. Keith Cadden, 1994-96 – An injured opponent in 1993 became one of the Lycoming College football team’s greatest allies for the next three years. Keith Cadden chose Albright College over Lycoming in part because Albright had a baseball team, but when his shoulder was injured in Lycoming’s 34-14 win in 1993, he couldn’t play baseball in the spring, so he transferred to the Williamsport school. For the next three years, he starred for the Warriors, guiding the team to a 24-8 (.667) record and finishing his career with school records in career passing yards per game (198.1) and total offense per game (203.5). After throwing for just 1,343 yards as a sophomore, he took off in 1995 while leading the Warriors back to the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time since 1992. He tossed for 2,191 yards and 20 scores while helping the Warriors to the NCAA quarterfinals, helping him earn his first of two straight CoSIDA Academic All-District honors and Freedom League Player of the Year accolades. As a senior, after being named a Don Hansen’s Football Gazette Preseason All-American, Cadden set school-records with 2,895 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and a 167.8 pass efficiency rating, all marks that still stand. While completing an unreal 67.5 percent of his passes, he guided the Warriors to the first undefeated regular season in four years and helped the team to the NCAA Division III semifinals. He earned third-team All-American honors from the Gazette after the season. He was inducted into the Lycoming College  Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.

127. Cross country wins York Invitational, 1996 – The men’s cross country program at Lycoming College, begun in 1982, developed throughout the ’80s and ’90s, reaching the top 10 in the MAC Championships for the first time in 1994. Two years later, under the guidance of head coach Roger Crebs, the team reached another hallmark when three Warriors finished in the top 10 to lead the team to the York Invitational title, the first cross country race win in the program’s history. Competing in an eight-team field, the Warriors were led by Darrick Dixon, who won the race with a time of 28:10, finishing just six seconds off the course record on the five-mile course. Dixon broke away from the pack on the course’s hill to roll to the victory, while Nate Gilbert (sixth, 29:21) and Casey Barnes (10th, 29:52) broke into a pack of Salisbury University runners to ensure the victory, as Lycoming finished with 54 points to edge out Salisbury at 63 points. Dixon followed his effort at York by setting a Lycoming College course record in an exhibition with Penn College, posting a time of 29:37. At the MAC Championships, it was Gilbert that led the squad, as he earned second-team all-conference honors by finishing 20^th in 30:02, and the Warriors finished sixth, a program high-water mark.

128. 1997 National Runners-Up – After reaching the NCAA Division III football playoffs in 1995 and 1996, the Warriors made a return trip after posting their second straight undefeated regular season. After notching a 27-13 win over Western Maryland and a 46-26 win over Trinity (Texas), the team hosted Rowan in the national semifinals. Down 20-0 at halftime, the Warriors embarked on the road to one of the greatest comebacks in school history, scoring two third-quarter touchdowns to cut the Profs’ lead to six points. In the fourth quarter, junior quarterback Jason Marraccini capped a 14-play, 80-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run. After Lycoming got the ball back thanks to a Rowan miscue on the kickoff, junior Brian Thompson hit paydirt, ensuring the 28-20 win to send the Warriors to the NCAA Championship for the second time. In the final, Mount Union won its first national title, 61-12. The Warriors went 12-1 overall, won the MAC Freedom League title, shared the MAC crown and repeated as South Region champions. Lycoming set numerous school records during the season, including Thompson, who became the program's career rushing leader (2.403). He also set a single-season record for rushing yards (1,446) and carries (253). Sophomore wide receiver Tim Dumas set a single-season record for receiving yardage (1,093) and tied the mark for catches in a season (58). Senior linebacker Brett Zalonis and senior offensive lineman Jason Meyer were named second-team Hewlett Packard All-Americans. Junior defensive end Keith Jenkins was named an honorable mention All-American by the same outlet. A total of 15 Warriors were named All-MAC Freedom League and head coach Frank Girardi was named the conference coach of the year.

129. Women’s soccer’s turnaround, 1997 – In Jack Shafer’s second year as the women’s soccer program’s head coach and just the fourth year of the program’s existence, the Warriors shocked the Freedom League with an eight-win turnaround. Led by a forward trio that all earned all-conference honors in Pam Featenby, Carolyn Tascione and Annie Harmon, the Warriors notched 41 goals, an average of 2.4 goals per game. Coming off a three-win year, the Warriors matched that mark in their first seven games, then went on a five-match winning streak, winning three times in overtime. After a loss to Susquehanna, Lycoming pulled off one of the biggest upsets in program history when Harmon scored the golden goal in the 101^st minute in a 4-3 win over Drew, which started the year nationally-ranked. The Warriors headed into the last game of the year with an 11-5 record and a chance to win the Freedom League title, but the Warriors lost to Scranton, 3-1, in the de facto title game. Still, the team set several standards, as Lee Anne Belke’s eight goals set a mark that stood for four years and Jess Forliano’s eight assists set a school-record that stood for seven years. Shafer capped the season by earning the Freedom League’s Coach of the Year award.

130. Matt Pivirotto, 1994-97 – When Matt Pivirotto decided to move three blocks Southeast from Bishop Neumann High School to Lycoming College, it was a game-changing move for the Warrior men’s soccer program. In his first year with the program, he helped the team to the first of two straight regular season Freedom League titles, as he scored nine goals and added four assists to earn his first of four first-team all-league mentions. As a sophomore, he was even better, scoring 14 goals and adding eight assists to earn his first of two NSCAA All-Region honors before he notched nine goals and three assists as a junior. He saved the best for last though, as he broke nearly every scoring record in the program’s history as a senior en route to the Freedom League’s Most Valuable Player award. He started the year by breaking the school record for career points, then added the school’s career goals mark with his eighth strike of the season. The last goal of his career gave him a record-breaking 21^st of the season and a record-breaking 49 points, while he finished with 128 points and 53 goals, all marks which stood for the next seven years. In all, Pivirotto posted five career hat tricks and he guided the team to a 49-27-1 record (.643) during his career. Pivirotto moved onto the coaching ranks, where he has served as the head coach of the University of Scranton for the past 12 years, guiding the team to three conference title games in his career. He was inducted into the Lycoming College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.

We hope you enjoyed our 13th look at 200 Memories. Stay tuned on Friday, Feb. 17, as moments 131-140 will be released, with moments capturing the period from 1997, two of the best softball pitchers in school history, a wrestling national champion, and league titles for both women’s swimming and women’s tennis.

As always, if you feel we missed an event or two that can be deemed a memorable moment or a memorable student-athlete, please share them. Tell us why they are special and any information you may have about that moment or person by contacting Sports Information Director Joe Guistina at guistina@lycoming.edu. Special addendums with your feedback will be released following the conclusion of the list in 2012.