The Big Red enjoyed the national spotlight the last few weeks, as the men's and women's basketball teams made appearances in their respective NCAA tournaments, and junior Jordan Leen won the NCAA wrestling title at 157 pounds.

It was the first time in Cornell basketball history that both teams represented the Ivy League in the annual postseason contest, which invites the nation's top teams to duke it out for three weeks in March for a chance to win it all.

For the Cornell women, it was their first Ivy League championship ever, after tying for first place in the conference with Harvard and Dartmouth. On March 16, the Big Red (20-9) won a playoff to clinch the tournament berth. Playing as a No. 16 seed, they fell to No. 1 seed University of Connecticut, 89-47, on March 23 in Bridgeport, Conn.

The men's basketball team (22-6), undefeated in Ivy League play this year, competed in the NCAA tournament as a No. 14 seed. They hadn't been to the tournament since 1988. On March 20, they lost to third-seeded Stanford, 77-53, in Anaheim, Calif.

In addition to their tournament appearances, both teams also received several honors from the Ivy League. Junior Jeomi Maduka and sophomore Louis Dale were each named Ivy League Player of the Year, while men's head coach Steve Donahue was named District 2 Coach of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association, and Ivy League Coach of the Year by MidMajority.com.

In wrestling, Leen defeated Illinois' Michael Poeta, 5-4, in the finals of the 157-pound class to claim his first national title March 22 at the 2008 NCAA wrestling championship in St. Louis, Mo. The No. 8 seed in the tournament completed his unlikely run by knocking off the two top seeds en route to capturing the title. The Big Red finished in ninth place as a team with 67 points.

Leen was also named the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association's Wrestler of the Year, while rookie Mack Lewnes earned Freshman of the Year honors.

The Cornell men's hockey team closed out the 2007-08 season by defeating Colgate, 4-2, in the consolation game of the ECAC hockey tournament at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., March 22.

The Cornell gymnastics team posted a season-best score of 192.000 to finish third among four teams in the Pitt Classic, March 22, at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse, in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Big Red had seven finishes in the top eight against a national-caliber field that saw Pitt (194.100) top North Carolina (193.725). Temple placed fourth at 188.625.

The Big Red men's polo team qualified for the national tournament March 16 with a win over Connecticut at the Oxley Equestrian Center in the Eastern Regional Finals. Bobby Harvey led Cornell with 14 goals, while Max Constant had seven and Rich Weidel added two. Cornell also had one penalty goal. Harvey and Constant earned all-tournament team honors.

The women's polo team fell to Connecticut in the Eastern Regional Finals March 16, but may still gain a wild card bid to the national tournament.

On March 14, Saidu Ezike placed 16th in the preliminaries of the 60 hurdles at the 2008 NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Arkansas. Ezike's time of 7.96 did not qualify him for the final the next day. Ezike, the school record-holder and Heps champion in the 60 hurdles, was making his first NCAA championship appearance.

Senior Muhammad Halim placed fourth in the triple jump at the 2008 NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship at the University of Arkansas, March 15. Halim's school record jump of 53-3 3/4 was just under a foot shorter than national champion Nkosinza Balumbu of Arkansas. The senior held the previous mark at 53-3 1/2, set last year.

Two-sport athlete Maduka's leap of 20-5 1/4 was good enough for eighth place in the long jump finals of the 2008 NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship on March 15 at the University of Arkansas. The jump earned Maduka, the 2008 Indoor Heptagonal Championships Most Outstanding Performer, All-American honors.

Members of the Cornell Figure Skating Club Team have also had success this year, finishing as one of the top three teams in the Eastern conference of the U.S. Figure Skating Association's intercollegiate division. The team will be in Ann Arbor, Mich., April 4-6 for the Intercollegiate Figure Skating national competition. For more information, visit http://www.usfigureskating.org/Programs.asp?id=89.