General | 8/12/2026 9:00:00 AM

PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Nine former student-athletes and one former coach have been selected for induction into the St. John Fisher University Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026. The induction ceremony will be held in the Cleary Family Auditorium on Friday, Sept. 18, beginning with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. 

This year's honorees include Alex Battle (women's golf), Corey Balcerzak (football), Ben Bostick (baseball), Peter Girardi (track & field), Taylor Hughes (women's lacrosse), Emily Markarian (field hockey), Lindsey Thayer (softball), Mark VanMarter (track & field), Paul Vosburgh (football head coach) and Thad Wier III (men's golf). 

Founded in 1992 with four charter members in the inaugural class, the St. John Fisher Athletics Hall of Fame recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs and reputation. The St. John Fisher Athletics Hall of Fame honors those who have helped grow the tradition of excellence and pride that has come to embody what it means to be a Cardinal.

Tickets for the 2026 induction ceremony can be purchased at go.sjf.edu/AHOF26. They will be on sale through Sept. 8.

CLASS NOTES

• Markarian is St. John Fisher's first field hockey inductee. 

• Battle is St. John Fisher's first women's golf inductee. 

• Girardi and VanMarter are Fisher's second and third track & field inductees. 

• The 2026 class includes seven All-Americans. 

INDUCTEE BIOS 

Alex Battle '12, Women's Golf

Battle, named Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011, holds almost all of the St. John Fisher women's golf program's records, including lowest round score (72), career scoring average (83.37) and career tournament wins (8). The two-time All-Empire 8 first-team performer also carded the most birdies (62) in team history. 

Corey Balcerzak '12, Football 

A two-time All-American offensive tackle, including as a d3football.com first-team honoree in 2011, Balcerzak played in 33 games and made 30 starts for the Cardinals from 2008-11. He earned All-Empire 8 honors three times, twice as a first-team selection, and d3football.com All-East Region recognition two times, garnering first-team accolades his senior year.

Balcerzak helped lead some of the most explosive offenses in program history, as the Cardinals averaged at least 29 points and 345 yards per game during Balcerzak's three seasons as a starter (2009-11). In 2010, Fisher led the Empire 8 and ranked in the top 10 in DIII in scoring (43.3 points per game) and total offense (486.7 yards per game). 

The Cardinals won the Empire 8 in 2009 and went on an NCAA Tournament run in 2011 that included victories over Johns Hopkins and Delaware Valley. They won ECAC Bowl games in 2008, 2009 and 2010. 

Ben Bostick '13, Baseball

Bostick, a four-time All-Empire 8 selection (3x first team), set program records for career triples (18) and stolen bases (70) while playing in 164 games for the Cardinals from 2010-13. At the time of his graduation, the three-time All-Region selection (1x first team) also ranked second in program history in hits (214) and runs scored (151) and third in runs batted in (133). Bostick had his finest collegiate season in 2012, when he batted .381 with 16 extra-base hits, drove in 45 runs and set Fisher's single-season record with 30 stolen bases. 

An excellent infielder and outfielder, Bostick, named Empire 8 Rookie of the Year in 2010, committed just 23 errors on 576 chances throughout his career. He recorded 322 putouts and 251 assists. 

The Cardinals went 115-50 during Bostick's four seasons. They won the Empire 8 and reached the NCAA Division III Tournament twice during that span. 

Peter Girardi '18, Track & Field

Girardi won the NCAA Division III championship in the 400-meter hurdles in 2018. He earned first-team NCAA All-America honors six times in all, including three times in the 400-meter hurdles (outdoor), twice in the 110-meter hurdles (outdoor) and once in the 60-meter hurdles (indoor). 

Girardi racked up 15 individual Empire 8 titles over his four years at St. John Fisher. That list includes six Empire 8 indoor championships (4x 60-meter hurdles, 2x 400-meter dash) and nine Empire 8 outdoor championships (4x 400-meter hurdles, 3x 110-meter hurdles and 1x 400-meter dash). Girardi was part of two Empire 8 Outdoor Track & Field team titles (2015 and 2018) and two Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field team titles (2014-15 and 2017-18). 

The three-time Empire 8 Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year holds school records in the 400-meter dash (indoor and outdoor), 800-meter dash (indoor), 110-meter hurdles (outdoor) and 400-meter hurdles (outdoor). Additionally, he helped set school records in the indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter relays. 

Taylor Hughes '14, Women's Lacrosse

Hughes stamped her name all over the St. John Fisher women's lacrosse program's record book while starring for the Cardinals from 2011-14. A second-team Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-American as a senior, Hughes tallied an Empire 8-record 304 career points on 217 goals and 87 assists. Her 217 goals are still the most by a player in program history, while her 87 assists stood as the program record until 2017.

Chosen as Empire 8 Rookie of the Year in 2011 and Player of the Year in 2014, Hughes set program single-season records for goals (72) and points (102) in 2012. She earned first-team All-Empire 8 and first-team IWLCA All-Region honors three times. 

Hughes helped the Cardinals capture three Empire 8 championships and advance to the NCAA Tournament three times.

Emily Markarian '18, Field Hockey

Markarian, who played a central role in the rise of the Cardinals' field hockey program, set St. John Fisher records for career points (179), goals (79) and assists (21) while playing in 81 games from 2014-17. She still ranks second in points and goals. 

In 2016, Markarian tallied 50 points on 21 goals and eight assists en route to becoming the first player in program history to be named Empire 8 Player of the Year and earn All-America honors from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA). She repeated as Empire 8 Player of the Year and a second-team NFHCA All-American the following season, when she tallied a single-season program record 23 goals and again posted 50 total points. 

Markarian earned All-Empire 8 honors four times, twice as a first-team honoree, and in 2014 became the first player in program history to win one of the conference's major awards when she was named Rookie of the Year. She garnered NFHCA first-team All-Region honors as a junior and senior. 

The Cardinals won the Empire 8 and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history in 2016. Markarian scored the game-winning tallies in both of the Cardinals' wins in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament that year. 

Lindsey Thayer '18, Softball

Thayer belongs in the conversation not only as the most dominant pitcher in Division III history, but as one of the greatest to ever step into the circle at any NCAA level. 

Thayer, who pitched in 140 games for the Cardinals from 2015-18, holds the Division III record and ranks 14th among pitchers at all three NCAA levels with 1,540 career strikeouts. During her career, she matched the Division III records for consecutive scoreless innings (75 in 2018) and strikeouts in a game of seven innings or fewer (21 against Nazareth in 2017). 

Thayer's name can be found in several other categories in the DIII record book, including single-season strikeouts (467 in 2016, 456 in 2018), career complete games (115), career innings pitched (889.3), career victories (107), career strikeout ratio (12.12 per 7 innings pitched), career shutouts (59), career perfect games (4) and career no-hitters (7). She posted the lowest career (0.94) and single-season (0.62 in 2017) earned run averages in Empire 8 Conference history. 

Thayer boasts a remarkable list of accolades. She is a four-time NFCA All-American (3x first team), four-time Empire 8 Pitcher of the Year, four-time first-team All-Empire 8 selection and a four-time first-team All-Region honoree. Thayer claimed Empire 8 Rookie of the Year honors in 2015 and Empire 8 Tournament MVP honors in 2017. 

Behind Thayer, the Cardinals won two Empire 8 titles and reached the NCAA Tournament three times, advancing to the DIII College World Series in 2016 and 2017. They finished as the national runner-up in 2017. 

Mark VanMarter '18, Track & Field

VanMarter won the NCAA Division III championship in the indoor long jump in 2018. He also achieved first-team NCAA All-America status in the outdoor long jump in 2015 and 2018. 

VanMarter claimed 12 Empire 8 titles over his four years at St. John Fisher, including five indoor (4x long jump, 1x high jump) and seven outdoor (4x long jump, 2x triple jump and 1x high jump). VanMarter was part of two Empire 8 Outdoor Track & Field team titles (2015 and 2018) and two Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field team titles (2014-15 and 2017-18). 

Named Empire 8 Field Athlete of the Year twice (once indoor, once outdoor), VanMarter holds the school's indoor and outdoor long jump records. At the time of his graduation, he also held the program's top marks in the indoor high jump, indoor triple jump and outdoor triple jump. 

Paul Vosburgh, Head Football Coach From 1991-2024

Named Empire 8 Coach of the Year twice and National Coach of the Year in 2006, Vosburgh went 181-155 in charge of the Cardinals and 192-173-1 overall as a collegiate head coach. 

Vosburgh, the winningest football coach in school history, arrived at Fisher in 1991. Over 34 years, he won six Empire 8 titles and led the Cardinals to the NCAA Tournament five times. His 2006 team authored the best season in program history, as it went 12-2 overall and captured the NCAA Division III East Region title to advance to the national semifinals. Fisher also won six Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) bowl games under Vosburgh's leadership. 

Two of Vosburgh's teams (2006 and 2013) won the Lambert Meadowlands Award, presented annually to the top Division III team in the East region. The Cardinals had 19 total d3football.com All-America selections under Vosburgh, including seven first-team honorees.  

Thad Wier III '14, Men's Golf

Twice a PING All-America honoree, Wier ranks second in St. John Fisher history in career tournament wins (8) and scoring average (74.74) and third in birdies (185). He finished with a 73.64 scoring average – the third-best single-season mark in program history – and claimed four tournament wins as a senior in 2013-14.  

Wier garnered first-team All-Empire 8 honors and PING All-Region honors three times. He was the Empire 8 Player of the Year in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

St. John Fisher won the Empire 8 and placed in the top 10 in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament in each of Wier's three seasons as a Cardinal.