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 final series of moments, we take a look at an Academic All-American tennis player, the first all-conference cross country runner in nearly a decade and a three-time MAC Champion swimmer.

With no more ado, here are moments 191-200 in our series of 200:

191. Justine Titko, 2007-10 – Coming off a school-best 14-4 season in 2006, women’s lacrosse coach Kara Reber needed to solidify a midfield that helped the Warriors reach the MAC title game. She found Justine Titko and for the next four years, she was a major part in some of the highest scoring teams in school history. As a freshman, the Wrightstown, N.J., native scored 25 goals and helped the Warriors to another 14-4 season. As a junior, she stepped into one of the team’s starring roles, scoring 44 points and adding 23 assists, helping her earn Second Team All-Metro Region and All-MAC honors. As a senior, she was one of the top two-way midfielders in the conference, posting a team second-best 52 points on 37 goals and 15 assists while also causing 11 turnovers, earning her second straight all-region and all-conference honors. She dominated draw controls, earning a squad second-high 50 while also picking up 39 groundballs. In all, Titko helped continue the most successful period in the women’s lacrosse program’s history, as the team posted three winning records and reached four straight conference tournaments during her career. She left Lycoming holding school records for games played (71) and games started (61), while sitting in the top five in school history in draw controls, assists, game-winning goals and free-position goals, while her 129 goals and 186 points are both sixth in school history.

192. Score one for the underdogs, 2010 – From 1959-73, the Lycoming College men’s tennis team suffered through just one losing season. However, in the next 36 years, the team had just two winning campaigns. Entering the 2010 season, the team had won just six matches against conference opponents in John Dorner’s seven years at the helm. A tennis pro at the West Branch Tennis Club, Dorner had an eye for local talent. He built the team in 2010 around some of the best local players in the area – Williamsport Area graduates Alex Beattie and Phillip Shannon, Muncy Area graduate Cody Heffner and a trio of Montoursville Area grads in brothers Robert and David Brown and Jason Mifsud. After losing their opening match, 5-4 to Susquehanna, thanks in part to a sprained ankle suffered by No. 1 singles player Robert Brown the night before the match, the Warriors ripped off six straight wins, with freshmen Heffner, David Brown and Mifsud pacing the team to its longest winning streak since 1982. After a loss to Elizabethtown, the Warriors won two more conference matches to wrap up the No. 2 seed in the conference playoffs, its first appearance in the playoffs since 1963. A 5-2 win over Messiah helped the Warriors reach the conference championship match for the first time in school history, and then, it pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in school history in the conference finals. Down 4-1, the Warriors rallied to win the title, 5-4, over Elizabethtown. Beattie won his second-flight singles match, dropping the first set, 4-6, but rallying to win the second and third sets, 6-1, 6-3. Mifsud also needed a tie break in the third flight. He won the first set, 6-3, but dropped the second, 0-6, and came back for the victory, 6-3. David Brown won the final point, falling in the opening set of his fourth-flight match, 3-6, before winning the second, 7-5. Brown took the third and final set, 6-3, sending the Warriors to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in school history. The honors rolled in for the Warriors, as Robert Brown and Beattie were named First Team All-Commonwealth Conference and Mifsud earned second-team honors. Dorner was named the Commonwealth Conference Coach of the Year, as he led the Warriors to a school-record tying 10 wins, finishing 10-3 overall as they won seven matches against conference foes. For good measure, the team also earned ITA All-Academic Team status for having a team GPA above 3.20 and Beattie, both Browns, Mifsud and Shannon were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.

193. Kaitlin Horn, 2007-10 – A dynamic playmaker, forward Kaitlin Horn was amongst the top goal scorers for the Lycoming College women’s soccer team from the day she got to the College. From Ringtown, Pa., Horn posted seven goals and seven assists, the seventh-most in the Commonwealth Conference. She posted double-figure point totals in all four seasons, capping it with her finest year as a senior, posting 12 goals, the third most in program history, and four assists, finishing third in the league with 28 points. She posted two hat tricks as a senior, scoring a school-record tying four goals against Susquehanna to help Lycoming win the school’s first River Derby and adding three in a win over St. Elizabeth. She finished second in school history with 72 career points and 30 goals.  A two-time MAC Academic Honor Roll selection as a biology major, she capped off her career by earning First Team ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-District 2 honors.

194. Stacy Flick, 2007-11 – In 2007, the Lycoming women’s swimming team had a glaring hole in the breaststroke, left by Amy Gatehouse, who had one of the most distinguished careers ever for one of the school’s breaststrokers, as she graduated and took with her four First Team All-MAC honors with her. Head coach Jerry Hammaker found a hopeful replacement, though, in Easton, Pa., and from her first day at Lycoming to her last, Stacy Flick was one of the best swimmers in the MAC. A three-time MAC Academic honor roll selection, Flick left Lycoming a perfect 8-for-8 in First Team All-MAC breaststroke awards, finishing third or better in both the 100- and 200-yard events four times apiece. She was also one of the best sprinters in the league, finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle as a freshman and sixth as a sophomore. During her junior year, she entered the MAC Championships with a  sprained knee, but still managed to win her first MAC title in the 100-yard breaststroke, helping her earn the Sol “Woody” Wolf award as the school’s most improved junior athlete. As a senior, the two-time CSCAA Scholar All-American as a criminal justice and psychology major won 22 races in dual meets while losing just twice (by a combined 0.38 seconds). She finished her dual meet career by winning 19 races in a row and followed that by winning titles at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, finishing her career with the second-most MAC titles in the women’s program’s history. She also finished her career with school-records in both breaststroke events, posting a 1:05.43 in the 100-yard event, as she earned an NCAA “B” Provisional cut twice in her career, and a 2:27.61 in the 200-yard event. She finished her career by winning the Mort Rauff Award for overall individual excellence and team spirit for the swim team and added another prestigious award with the Most Outstanding Female Athlete nod in 2011.               

195. Bobby Brown, 2008-11 – During his four years at Lycoming College, Bobby Brown helped lead the men’s tennis team to 24 wins, more than the team had won in the 17 years before he had joined the team in 2008. A three-time First Team All-Commonwealth Conference selection, Brown was central to leading the Warriors to the team’s first conference title in school history, playing in the No. 1 singles slot during his first three years. As a senior, Brown moved comfortably into the No. 2 position, where he finished a perfect 6-0 in Commonwealth Conference play. He posted a career-best 8-4 record in singles play and surpassed 50 career combined wins (singles and doubles) during the season, along with winning the Commonwealth Conference Player of the Week award once. In doubles play, he teamed with his brother, David, to form one of the top duos in the conference, as the pair advanced to the finals at the MAC Individual Championships in the second flight and they combined to post an 11-4 overall record and a 6-0 conference slate. He was named the conference’s MAC Scholar Athlete and was a second team CoSIDA Academic All-American. Off the court, the astronomy and physics major was a three-time member of the MAC Academic Honor Roll and earned the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Scholar-Athlete status twice. He earned dean’s list mention in each of his nine semesters. Along the way, he picked up the M.B. Rich Endowed Prize, the Fundamentals of Physics Award and the Principles of Astronomy Award from Lycoming in 2008. He was inducted into three honor societies: Phi Kappa Phi, for outstanding academic achievement; Sigma Pi Sigma, for physics; and Kappa Mu Epsilon, for mathematics. He also earned the Mathematical Science Award in 2011.

196. Grace Gargiulo, 2009-11 – With one of the youngest teams in school history behind her, Grace Gargiulo, after two years in a supporting role, moved into a starring one during her third year with the program in 2011. The Branchburg, N.J., native finished off a record-breaking season second in the nation in goals per game. The USA College Lacrosse.com Second Team All-American averaged 5.0 goals per game, scoring a school-record 80. Curry’s Ashley Hansbury led the country with  an average of 5.5 per game. Gargiulo, who earned All-MAC Honorable Mention honors in 2010, was the 13th player in school history to earn first-team all-conference honors during her junior year. The fearless midfielder also sat 24th in the nation in points per game at 5.25, 29th in groundballs per game at 4.0 and 95th in draw controls per game at 3.13. She also forced 1.19 turnovers per game. During the season, Gargiulo won three MAC Offensive Player of the Week awards, as she posted five or more goals in seven games and notched hat tricks in 13 straight games. She posted a school-record 11 goals and a record-tying 12 points in the Warriors’ 19-10 win over Misericordia on April 13. Although an injury kept her from the field in 2010, Gargiulo is still in the top 10 in school history in 13 career categories.

197. Anthony Marascio, 2008-11 – From the time he enrolled at Lycoming College, Anthony Marascio was one of the best defensive lineman in the program. By his senior year, given a chance to play all four positions on the line depending on the situation, the Philadelphia, Pa., native became the first Lycoming player to earn the MAC Defensive Player of the Year award. He led the MAC in tackles for loss in 2011, posting 20, and finished tied for third in the league with 8.5 sacks, helping him earn a slew of postseason awards. In addition to earning the football team’s MVP and defensive lineman of the year award, he was named to the AFCA All-American squad, the D3football.com All-American Second Team, the Associated Press Little All-America Third Team and the D3ProDay.com All-American First Team. Marascio earned two D3Football.com Team of the Week honors during the year and added one Beyond Sports Network Athlete of the Week mention. The 6-2 lineman led the Warriors with 59 tackles, the second year in a row that he led the team in tackles, as he finished his career with 227 tackles and 45 tackles for loss, the fourth most in school history. A three-time All-MAC selection, Marascio finished his career by earning the 2011 Male Athlete of the Year award.

198. Michelle Herman, 2009-Pres. – During her three years at Lycoming, Michelle Herman has left arguably the most distinguished resume in the history of the women’s cross country program. A two-time MAC Academic Honor Roll selection, Herman made a quick impact on the Warriors, running a school-record 24:14.90 during the NCAA Mideast Regionals as a freshman. She has continued to develop during her career, culminating in becoming the first cross country runner to earn All-MAC honors since 1995 when she placed 18^th at the conference championships on Oct. 29 before earning the Sol “Woody” Wolf Award, given to the school’s most improved junior student-athlete. The Hollidaysburg, Pa., native also won her first collegiate race during her junior year, posting a time of 21:11.00 to win the Cabrini Invitational at the legendary Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. During her career, Herman has posted 12 career top 20 finishes and six top 10 ones.

199. Jerald Williams, 2009-Pres. – In 2009, Guy Rancourt needed a leader to guide his fast-paced and high-flying offense. When he found Jerald Williams in Riverdale, Md., he had his man. The 5-7 point guard led the Warriors to a 10-win improvement as a freshman, helping him earn the Commonwealth Conference Rookie of the Year award. With Williams running the offense, he led the team to the NCAA Tournament, setting a school-record with 84 steals, finishing sixth in the nation, and posting 151 assists, 25^th-best in the country, just shy of the school record. He got even better, finishing his sophomore campaign fourth in the nation in assists (7.3), sixth in steals per game (3.0) and ninth in assist-turnover ratio (2.94), leading the Commonwealth Conference in all three categories. His 17 assists against Delaware Valley were the second most in the division and also set school and Commonwealth Conference records. That just set up another record-shattering season in 2011-12, as he helped the Warriors to the conference title game for the second time in his three-year career, earning him Second Team All-Commonwealth Conference honors. He finished second in the NCAA Division III in assists, seventh in steals and fourth in assist-turnover ratio. He broke the school’s career steals and assists records while also breaking his own school records for assists in a season (227) and in a game (21 at Mount Aloysius, Dec. 17, 2011). During his junior year alone, he posted an unbelievable nine double-digit assist efforts and notched three double-doubles. Williams also set the MAC record for assists per game in a season (8.7). Overall, Williams enters his senior year holding school records with 560 assists and 242 steals and is within reach of the NCAA Division III’s all-time top 25.

200. Stephen Romano, 2010-Pres. – When a game is on the line, the Lycoming College men’s lacrosse team has learned something in the past three years: if you give the ball to Stephen Romano, something special will happen. After not winning an overtime game during his freshman year, that changed in just the second game of his sophomore year, when he scored five goals and added three assists, including the game-winner in overtime against SUNY Maritime. Later in the year, he posted game-winning goals in the fourth quarter against Lebanon Valley and in the second overtime at Elizabethtown. During the year, he scored nearly half his points in one-goal games, helping him finish 2011 second in Division III and third amongst all NCAA lacrosse players in Lax.com’s Clutch Ratings, posting a rating of 29.97. The league leader in scoring, Romano was a magician around the net for the Warriors, posting the MAC's top averages in goals (2.35), assists (1.47) and points (3.82). The 5-7 attackman was the catalyst all season for the Warriors, as he won the MAC Offensive Player of the Week award four times. As a junior, he repeated the performance, earning the Commonwealth Conference Player of the Year award after finishing second in the league in goals (2.47) and third in points (3.33) per game. Along the way, Romano posted seven-goal games against Messiah and SUNY Geneseo and he continued his clutch abilities, scoring the game-winner in overtime against Messiah and assisting on the winner against Elizabethtown. He won three more Commonwealth Conference Player of the Week awards this season, giving him seven in his career. Despite only playing three years so far, Romano is already ninth in school history with 106 career goals and 48 career assists.

We hope you enjoyed this installment of the 200 Memories retrospective just as much as the first 19. We’re going to take a month off before releasing the special addendum with your feedback on Friday, June 8. So before then, please share with us any event that can be deemed a memorable moment or a memorable student-athlete. 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.