Lofty Rankings
Jamestown Natives Sirianni, Milne Showing The Way
- Jamestown native MIke Sirianni has the Washington & Jefferson college football team ranked in the latest D3football.com poll. P-J file photo
- Jamestown native Stephen Carlson catches a pass during Princeton’s victory over Columbia last Friday in the Tigers’ Ivy League opener. Photo courtesy of Princeton University
- Jamestown native Nate MIlne has the Muhlenberg college football team ranked in the latest D3football.com poll. Photo courtesy of Muhlenberg College

Jamestown native MIke Sirianni has the Washington & Jefferson college football team ranked in the latest D3football.com poll. P-J file photo
Two Jamestown natives have their respective college football teams off to a fine start this fall.
It’s impressive enough, in fact, that Washington & Jefferson College head coach Mike Sirianni (Jamestown/Southwestern) and Muhlenberg College head man Nate Milne (Jamestown/Jamestown) find their squads ranked among the best Division III programs in the country.
Sirianni’s Presidents are 5-0 and are No. 10 in the American Football Coaches Association Top 25 poll and No. 12 in the D3football.com poll. They welcome No. 16/19 Case Western Reserve to Cameron Stadium on Saturday.
In his 16th year as head coach at W&J, Sirianni is one of NCAA football’s most successful head coaches and the winningest football coach in W&J history, sporting a 144-31 record to date. Tom Delahoy (Panama/Panama) is a freshman offensive lineman on the squad.
Meanwhile, Milne, who is in his first year as head coach at Muhlenberg, has the Mules making their first top 25 appearance of the season this week, coming in at No. 24 in the D3football.com poll.

Jamestown native Stephen Carlson catches a pass during Princeton’s victory over Columbia last Friday in the Tigers’ Ivy League opener. Photo courtesy of Princeton University
Muhlenberg is one spot — and one point — out of the top 25 in the American Football Coaches Association poll.
Muhlenberg, which is in sole possession of first place in the Centennial Conference, is coming off a convincing 42-21 win against Franklin & Marshall last Saturday. The Diplomats came in ranked 24th and with a nine-game winning streak, the second-longest active run in Division III, behind only defending national champion Mount Union.
Milne, who was named the head coach at Muhlenberg following the 2017 season after three years as its offensive coordinator, has a decorated football resume.
In his first three seasons as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, the Mules compiled a 25-8 record, averaging 33.3 points and 428 yards per game. The 2016 team featured the most prolific offense in program history, setting school records for yards and points in a season and ranking 17th in Division III in scoring.
Milne came to Muhlenberg in 2015 with more than 15 years playing and coaching football at the Division III level. For the previous seven years, he was offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Susquehanna University.

Jamestown native Nate MIlne has the Muhlenberg college football team ranked in the latest D3football.com poll. Photo courtesy of Muhlenberg College
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Princeton University senior wide receiver Stephen Carlson (Jamestown/Jamestown) is also off to a fast start through three games.
In the Tigers’ wins over Butler, Monmouth and Columbia, Carlson has 18 receptions for 281 yards and four touchdowns. His best game was against Monmouth when he caught 11 balls for 179 yards and two TDs. Last week in the Ivy League opener at Columbia, the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder caught five passes for 86 yards and two more scores.
Those numbers come on the heels of a junior season in which he caught 71 passes for 935 yards and 11 TDs. For his career Carlson has 92 catches for 1,230 yards and 15 TDs. Of note, in his freshman and sophomore years, he had three receptions for 14 yards. Combined.
As a team, Princeton moved to No. 23 in the latest AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, which was released Monday. The Tigers are one of four FCS programs without a loss this season, a quartet that includes No. 1 North Dakota State, No. 20 Colgate, and unranked Dartmouth.
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Edinboro University’s Hope Pietrocarlo (Bemus Point /Maple Grove) has been named the PSAC women’s cross country Athlete of the Week following her performance last Saturday in the Loyola Lakefront Invitational.
Facing a field dominated by top runners from Division I and other top programs, the redshirt sophomore paced Edinboro’s runners across the finish line, placing 46th overall and 42nd in the team scoring. She covered the 5K course in a time of 18:00.42.
Edinboro, ranked 14th in the latest USTFCCCA Division II Top 25, would go on to place 17th out of 33 teams in the prestigious event. Princeton captured first place, with Grand Valley State, ranked second in Division II, placing second and Ohio State third. Illinois came in fourth and Missouri fifth.
The Fighting Scots will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 20 competing in the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Pittsburgh. The race will be hosted by Slippery Rock and run on the same course as the Atlantic Regional and NCAA Division II National Championships at Schenley Park.
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SallyAnne Rudny (Jamestown/Southwestern) is averaging 3.38 points, 2.9 kills and 2.6 digs per set for the SUNY Fredonia women’s volleyball team.
A former NJCAA Division III All-American at Jamestown Community College, Rudny and the Blue Devils are 11-6 overall and 2-1 in the SUNYAC at last report.
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The Gostomski twins — Bailey and Abby (Cattaraugus/Cattaraugus-Little Valley) — are adapting well to life on the Roberts Wesleyan women’s cross country team.
Bailey Gostomski was named as the East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week on Monday after helping the Redhawks to a fifth-place finish at the Louisville Cross Country Classic last weekend, placing 53rd with a time of 19:22.8.
The week before, Abby Gostomski earned the same honor after her 12th-place finish (in a field of more than 240 runners). Her time was 19:15.9.
The Gostomskis, both freshmen, and the rest of the Redhawks cross country team will travel to Houghton for the Houghton Highlander Invitational on Saturday.
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Nolan Ditcher (Randolph/Randolph) shot a 79-75-154 and Dylan Glatz (Jamestown/Jamestown) had a 76-80-156 to help the St. Bonaventure University golf team to a second-place finish Monday at the Matthews Auto Intercollegiate outside Binghamton.
On Tuesday, the Bonnies took on Siena in the second annual Murray Cup at Schuyler Meadows Country Club outside Albany in the penultimate event of the fall season.
For the second straight year, the Bonnies remained in possession of the Murray Cup, winning the event, 10.5-7.5.
Ditcher, who shot a 73, was one of four Bonnies who won both available points in their pairings in rainy and tough conditions. Glatz, meanwhile, shot an 80.
The Cup is named for two ardent supporters of both schools’ golf programs — 1968 St. Bonaventure graduate Ed Murray and Siena trustee John Murray. While the two Murrays are not related, they share a passion for the golf and their universities.
The St. Bonaventure team is coached by Sherman native Ryan Swanson.
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Senior Cody Latimer (Mayville/Chautauqua Lake) and Andrew Stillwell (Cherry Creek/Pine Valley) each shot a 10-over 82 to help SUNY Cobleskill to a third-place finish Saturday at the Paul Smith’s Invitational in Saranac Lake.