Ithaca claimed its 100th Empire 8 team title Saturday when its women’s cross country squad captured its seventh straight league championship.

Ithaca teams, which have claimed more than half of the conference championships in which they have participated (100 of 181), now have claimed two Empire 8 titles this fall. They also won their fifth consecutive women’s tennis league championship last week.

The tally counts titles won by Ithaca since the conference, which had been a basketball-only league from 1993 to 1999, reformed as a multisport league and renamed itself the Empire 8.

Ithaca actually has been affiliated with the league since 1971, when it was known as the Independent College Athletic Conference.

Ithaca sponsors 22 of the 23 sports for which the Empire 8 sponsors championships competition – all but men’s golf. The Bombers last year claimed 12 league titles and advanced to the postseason tournament final in three other championships. The Empire 8 has conducted 190 championships in its history.

The school’s women’s soccer team could give Ithaca its next title and third fall championship. That team enters next week’s league tournament as the top seed.

Other noteworthy facts about Ithaca’s achievement:

• Ithaca has won at least one Empire 8 title in every sport.
• The Bombers have won at least five conference titles every year since 1999-2000, including that first year, when there were only 11 conference championships.
• Every one of Ithaca's 17 current head coaches in Empire 8 championship sports has won at least one title.
• Of the 100 titles, 28 were won in postseason championship tournaments.
• Three Ithaca teams have captured every Empire 8 championship decided in their sport (10 for women’s swimming and diving, nine for baseball and seven for women’s cross country).
• Ithaca’s 21 Empire 8 titles in 2003-04 is the most won by any school in any conference in any NCAA division.