A look back at sports in Tompkins County in 2022

The year has come to a close, and the sports scene in Tompkins County had plenty of success from the high school level to the global stage. Let’s take a look at the top highlights and sports stories from 2022.

Arguably the greatest achievement was Lansing’s Kyle Dake continuing his reign of dominance in the wrestling world. In September, Dake won his fourth straight world title after taking down Slovakia’s Tajmuraz Salkazanov in the 74-kilogram men’s freestyle gold medal match at the 2022 Senior World Championships. He became just the second American wrestler to achieve a four-peat at worlds. Dake also won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and is the only wrestler to win four straight NCAA championships at four different weight classes while at Cornell. Dake ended another historic year by getting inducted into the Lansing Central School Athletic Hall of Fame earlier this month alongside legendary head coach Stuart Dean, golfer John Duthie, and the Bobcats’ 1963-1965 baseball teams.

Lansing also saw quite a few of its high school teams win some silverware. In May, the baseball team won its first Section IV Class C championship since 2018 after taking down Elmira-Notre Dame 7-4 in extra innings. It was a moment of redemption for the Bobcats, as they were a strike away from winning sectionals last year but gave up a miraculous comeback to Trumansburg.

The Lansing volleyball team not only won its second straight sectional title in November, but the Bobcats went one step further and swept Skaneateles in regional play to make the state championships. While they lost five of six sets in pool play and didn’t advance to the final, the Bobcats’ season was nothing short of spectacular. They entered states at 24-0 and dropped just four sets out of 109.

The lone team state title won in Tompkins County was in Newfield. In March, the boys basketball team won its first-ever state championship after beating Stillwater 87-62 in Glen Falls. This was made even more impressive by a first-year head coach in Mike Nembhard. Leading the Trojans on the court was Jalen Hardison, who was named the New York State Class C Player of the Year and reached 1,000 career points in his junior year.

The standout sport at Ithaca High School was tennis. In the spring, the boys team went unbeaten at 12-0, winning the STAC and Section IV championships. Then in the fall, the girls side went undefeated in regular season play and won the STAC title under first-year head coach Helen Evans. Doubles pairing Fiona Glenn-Keough and Lily Wang made it all the way to the second round of the NYSPHSAA Tennis Championships.

It was also a milestone year for Unified Sports at IHS. The basketball team won its first championship after defeating Elmira 41-29 in May. This fall, soccer became the fourth Unified activity and attracted a high level of interest and participation school-wide.

On the gridiron, Groton football stole the headlines with another dominant year. In its second season as an 8-man program, the Indians won the Section IV title against Moravia 48-14 in November, its first sectional triumph since 2009. They went on to rout Tri-Valley 58-30 in the regional semifinal before falling to Pembroke 36-18 in the regional championship.

Trumansburg produced the lone individual athlete to win a state title. In June, Isabel Morse took home the Division II State Championship in the pole vault after clearing 11 feet. The Blue Raiders also got strong performances from their soccer teams, as both the boys and girls sides reached the Section IV Class C final.

Dryden’s sectional titles this year both came in track and field under first-year head coach Karen Weaver. The boys side won both the indoor and outdoor track championships. At the outdoor level, the Lions won the 4×800 and 4×400 relay, Aidan Kalousdian won the 200-meter race, and Bryant DePaull won the high jump.

With so much success at the high school level, it’s easy to forget that the local colleges have plenty of accolades to be proud of. Cornell added two more individual national championships to its ever-growing collection. Yianni Diakomihalis won his third straight wrestling title at the 149 class. He became the second Big Red wrestler to achieve this feat, with the other being Dake. Diakomihalis actually wrestled alongside Dake at the World Championships, earning silver in the 65-kilogram men’s freestyle. The other national champion was won by Sivasangari Subramaniam, capturing the squash program’s first NCAA title

Ithaca College racked up four individual national championships: Lansing alum Meghan Matheny in the women’s pole vault (her second national title), Jalen Leonard-Osbourne in the men’s 60-meter dash, Jack Wadsworth in the men’s 100-yard backstroke, and Ava Lowell in the women’s three-meter dive.