Ithaca College Men's Cross Country

Nichols earned Atlantic Region Coach of the Year honors after guiding the team to its first regional championship. He earned Empire 8 Coach of the Year honors in 2003 after leading the Bombers to their first Empire 8 title and again earned the award in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. In August 2012, he was appointed to serve a three-year term on the NCAA Men's and Women's Track & Field Rules Committee. He's one of two members on the nine-member committee representing a Division IIII institution. Nichols has served as treasurer of the New York State Collegiate Track Conference since 1996 and has chaired the Empire 8's cross country/track & field committee since its inception. Nichols was an assistant coach for six seasons before taking over as head coach in 1992. During his career hes coached 45 men's championship teams in cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field (36 conference titles, seven state crowns, an ECAC championship and one regional title). Nichols was selected by USA Track and Field to serve on the staff for the 2002 World Cross Country Championships. He was team leader for the U.S. junior mens team that finished seventh out of 18 teams in Dublin, Ireland, in March 2002. His duties included serving as the chief facilitator for the athletes and handling aspects of competition and travel surrounding the event. He also assisted in the selection of the team and the trials. He was named the head coach for the mens senior team at the 2009 championships, held in Jordan. Nichols has coached his track & field athletes to 50 All-America finishes at Ithaca (23 male and 27 female), including the 1992 national champion in the womens outdoor 5,000-meter run, and has coached five men's cross country All-Americans in his tenure. His men's and women's teams combined have won 20 state championships, including first-ever titles in mens cross country, mens indoor track & field and mens outdoor track & field in 2000-01. His teams have won six ECAC championships. Prior to his arrival at Ithaca, Nichols served as head cross country and track & field coach at Plattsburgh for two years. He coached the 1986 mens NCAA Division III indoor 800-meter champion. Nichols was an All-American cross country runner at North Central College and was a member of the schools national championship teams in 1978 and 1979. Following his graduation in 1979, he served as assistant coach for the track & field and cross country teams at North Central and was a graduate assistant for both sports at Indiana University.

Sambolec previously served as the head womens cross country and assistant track & field coach at Lansing Community College (Mich.), leading the team to four NJCAA Region XII titles and four top-five finishes at the NJCAA National Championship meet. Sambolec was named the NJCAA Region XII and MCCAA Coach of the Year four times (2002-05) as his athletes earned 42 All-America honors and set 10 school records. Prior to his arrival at Lansing, Sambolec was the head cross country and assistant track & field coach at Mount Saint Mary Academy in Tonawanda, N.Y., where his teams set 19 school, league and course records. He recorded the best win-loss record in school history and guided three state qualifiers. Sambolec is a 1999 Ithaca graduate, earning a bachelors degree in psychology. He earned 10 varsity letters as a member of the Bombers cross country and track & field teams and was the cross country team captain as a senior. He earned three All-NYSCTC honors and was an NCAA all-region performer as a junior and senior. Sambolec received his masters degree in psychology from Michigan State in 2002, where he also earned his Ph.D. in social & personality psychology with a minor in sport psychology in 2006. His research emphasis was on group and individual motivation. Sambolec is a USATF Level I & Level II certified track & field coach.