Ram Report

Cornell returns to Midwest Conference

It’s official: Cornell will once again compete in the Midwest Conference for athletics, beginning in the 2012-13 academic year. Cornell was a founding member of the conference in 1921.

Citing the close academic relationships that already exist between Cornell and many of the schools in the Midwest Conference, Athletics Director John Cochrane said he was pleased the conference had accepted Cornell’s petition to rejoin. “We are grateful to the presidents, faculty members, and athletic administrators in the Midwest Conference for embracing our request for membership,” he said, “And we are committed to working with our colleagues in furthering the mission of the Conference and continuing to provide an intercollegiate athletic experience that fosters academic and athletic excellence.”

Academically, Cornell is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, which includes seven schools that compete in the Midwest Conference. The Midwest Conference provides NCAA Division III intercollegiate championship competition for 10 liberal arts schools located in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Member schools are Beloit, Carroll, Grinnell, Illinois College, Knox, Lake Forest, Lawrence, Monmouth, Ripon, and St. Norbert.

“We’re extremely pleased to hear that the Midwest Conference has accepted our petition to return to the conference we helped found,” said Interim President Jim Brown. “We’re looking forward to competing in the places where many members of the Cornell family, both families of students and alumni, live. We think this change will benefit our athletes as well as the other schools in the conference.”

Softball scores first All-American

Cornell College now has its first softball All-American. Senior Carly Goolsby was named to the 2011 Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III All-American Second Team. Goolsby closed her career at Cornell ranked third in career batting average, fourth in on-base percentage, and eighth in hits.

Record seasons for two teams

Two teams, softball and men’s tennis, set school records this spring for number of wins.

Under fifth-year head coach Shanda Ness, the softball team went 25–14. The previous record for wins in a season was 19.

Men’s tennis, coached by Patrick Cote, had a 16-11 record. That’s three more than the previous record of 13 wins.