Boston, MA – October 13, 2006 – Four former student-athletes as well as three individuals whose contributions to Wentworth Institute of Technology Athletics are being recognized this evening, as Wentworth adds seven individuals into its Athletic Hall of Fame at a dinner and induction ceremony at the campus’ Watson Hall Auditorium.

The oldest sport on the Wentworth campus has its first representative in the Hall of Fame with this evening’s induction of Warren Cochrane. A four-year shooter for the Leopards, Cochrane shot under the direction of longtime coach John Kavolius and was a key member of the squad during his four years, earning three varsity letters and serving as the team’s captain during his junior and senior seasons. His outstanding career earned him recognition as the team’s most valuable player as a sophomore, junior, and senior, and during his senior campaign, his accuracy helped the Leopards place second in the New England Collegiate Rifle League. A 1981 graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering, Cochrane worked from 1980-1996 for such companies as R.G. Vanderweil Engineers, Camp Dresser & McKee, and Shooshanian Engineers. Since 1996 he has been a Principal and Group Leader at Richard D. Kimball Company, Inc. (RDK) in Andover, Mass., evaluating and designing building systems, with a special emphasis on academic, medical, and other institutional facilities. He resides in Reading, Mass., with his wife, Leslie, and their three children, Robert, Mark, and Thomas.

The turnaround of the Wentworth hockey program from doormat to contender began during the second half of the 1996-97 season when a strong recruiting class began to jell. It wasn’t until the 1997-98 season, however, that the Leopards would begin a string of competitiveness at both the conference and national level; a string that continues to this day. A native of Delta, B.C., Ivan Filippov was a freshman on the 1997-98 team and his presence had an immediate impact on Wentworth’s hockey program. In 25 games he established a new single-season scoring record, scoring 24 goals and 25 assists for 49 points to help Wentworth to its first-ever winning season (17-10), the ECAC South regular season championship, and a berth in the ECAC North-Central-South Semifinals. That season he was named the ECAC South Rookie of the Year and a first team all-star. During his sophomore season, he broke his own scoring record with a 55-point campaign and became the first Leopard hockey player to score 100 or more points in his career, though doing so in just two seasons (104 points in just 100 games). Over the course of his final two seasons, Filippov scored 75 points, including a 39-point season during his junior year when the Wentworth hockey program performed on a national stage, winning the ECAC Northeast Championship and making the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time. A three-year captain, his teams compiled a 68-39-4 record and he is the program’s all-time leader with 103 assists and 179 points, while his 76 career goals rank him second. Filippov earned Academic All-District One honors in 2001, the year he graduated, cum laude, with a Bachelor’s degree in Management of Technology and earned a Professional Certificate in Technical Communication. After graduation he worked as an Investment Company Representative for H&R Block Financial Advisors in Boston before working as a Financial Advisor for the Cowan Financial Group in New York. Presently he is a Senior Tour Guide for Rocky Mountaineer Vacations in Vancouver, B.C. Filippov presently resides in Port Coquitlam, B.C., and is the father of twin girls, Lilly Page and Peyton Nicole.

Fresh off a 19-8 record and a trip to the finals of the 1996 Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament, there was much optimism surrounding the men’s basketball program’s future. Kevin Hanlon entered Wentworth as a freshman in the fall of 1996 and had an immediate impact on the Leopards, starting all of the team’s 28 games and averaging 8.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.0 assists, while shooting 82 percent from the free throw line. Playing alongside both the league’s player and rookie of the year, he played a major role in the Leopards’ 20-8 finish, which included their first CCC Championship and the Institute’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Wentworth repeated as league champions in 1998 and established a new school record for wins, going 22-7 and advancing to the semifinals of the ECAC Tournament with Hanlon averaging a career-high 4.5 assists per game. During his final two seasons, he averaged 11.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.5 steals in 46 games. He established a school record for three-pointers made in a game when he drained eight (in 10 attempts) in a CCC semifinal round loss at Colby-Sawyer in 1999 and saw his consecutive games played and started streak snapped at 83 when he suffered an injury early in his senior season. A starter in the 103 games he played in, Hanlon averaged 9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. He shot nearly 42 percent from the floor and 83 percent from the free throw line, while making 175 three pointers. The team won nearly 63 percent of its games during his career, going 68-40. In the classroom Hanlon’s accomplishments were equally as impressive, as he was the school’s first two-time Academic All-America selection (Third Team, 1999, First Team, 2000), earned both the CCC Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and New England Basketball Coaches’ Association’s Academic Achievement Award in 2000, and was one of three recipients of the Carl A. Swanson Scholar-Athlete Award. Hanlon, a Construction Engineering Technology major who graduated summa cum laude, was the Salutatorian of the Class of 2000. A native of Dedham, Mass., Hanlon (who will be inducted into the Dedham High School Hall of Fame in November) is an Assistant Superintendent with Suffolk Construction, a company he has been with since 2000. He and his wife, April, reside in Pembroke, Mass., with their two sons, Joseph and Seamus.

Upon the completion of Sweeney Field, men’s lacrosse was added as a varsity sport at Wentworth, after a two-year stint as a club sport. After the Leopards had completed their first season of varsity play in 1997, Donald "D.J." McBain arrived on campus after transferring from the University of Hartford. McBain, a goalie, jumped right into the mix as a rookie, appearing in 17 games and positing a 5-8 record with a 13.05 goals against average and a .628 save percentage in 1998. He set a single-season record for saves with 246 and, in the first season of Commonwealth Coast Conference play, was a Second Team All-CCC selection as the Leopards began their string of nine consecutive post-season appearances. The 1999 season was a breakout season for Wentworth as the squad established a new school record for wins, going 9-5 under the direction of a new coaching staff. McBain played in all 14 games, setting a school record for wins (nine) to go along with a 7.95 goals against average and a .702 save percentage. McBain is the only goalie in the program’s history to record a shutout, and that season he also assisted on a goal, with his numbers again earning him Second Team All-CCC honors. During his junior and senior seasons, McBain served as team captain and earned First Team All-CCC honors and team most valuable player honors in each of those seasons as well as playing in the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s East/West Senior All-Star Game in 2001. In 54 career games, he had a 28-26 record with a 10.57 goals against average and a save percentage of .635. The 28 wins, 896 saves, .635 save percentage, and 16.59 saves per game rank him first in the program’s history, while the 10.57 career goals against average ranks him second. McBain’s career accomplishments are impressive especially given that he played for a different head coach in each of his four seasons, while the program was in its beginning stages. A native of Hingham, Mass., McBain earned his Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management in 2001 and is a Project Superintendent with the Dacon Corporation. He and his wife, Liza, reside in Mystic, Conn., with their son Jacob.

September 11, 1996 will go down as one of the most memorable days in the history of Wentworth Institute of Technology Athletics. Despite the Leopard men’s soccer team losing a 4-3, overtime decision to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, the date marked the first time a soccer game was actually played on campus. For years both the men’s soccer and softball teams scoured for fields for practices and "home" games, but that all changed in August of 1996 when the Myles Elliott ’28 and Eugenia Louise Sweeney Field was completed. Formerly used as a parking lot, a helicopter landing pad and a patch of grass that formed a triangle along Huntington Avenue and Parker and Ruggles Streets, this parcel of land is now a multi- million dollar athletic facility extending the Institute’s front door and beautifying the area. Importantly, the field’s opening allowed Wentworth to add two additional varsity sports (men’s lacrosse, women’s soccer). Myles Sweeney, a 1928 graduate of Wentworth with a degree in Architectural Construction, spent 33 years working for the Johns Manville Company developing new technology relating to sound isolation and reverberation control. During the 1940’s, he helped build wind tunnels for the agency that is now known as NASA. In 1993, he contacted Wentworth regarding donating land he and his wife owned in Bedford, Mass. This donation, valued at nearly two million dollars, was critical to the construction the facility, which includes an artificial surface, lights, and has provided thousands hours of varsity and recreational activities for thousands of individuals. Sadly, Myles passed away shortly before the field opened, but Eugenia has continued the family’s philanthropic legacy. In 2000, a second gift was given to Wentworth, allowing a second phase of construction which consisted of new bleachers, a three-story building containing a concession stand, working press box, and video platform, and meeting rooms for two teams. In 2002, the Athletic Policy Board voted to formally recognize Eugenia. As a result, an annual female senior scholar-athlete award is named in her honor. Since that first game a little over 10 years ago, the field has provided a home field advantage that is second-to-none. The Leopard soccer teams have combined to win 71 percent of their games played on the field, including the men’s soccer team’s 1996 Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship; won a mere 52 days after the first-ever game, and the four teams that play their homes games on the field have combined to win just under 60 percent of their home games. Additionally, Sweeney Field has played host to the Bay State Games, the City of Boston’s annual high school softball all-star game, and Northeastern University’s Division I field hockey program. The home field advantage that the field affords extends next door, as the Huskies have won 81 percent of their home games, including three conference championships, since they began playing games on Sweeney Field in 2001.

Dr. John Van Domelen’s tenure as President of Wentworth Institute of Technology began on July 1, 1990, and during his 15 years on campus he oversaw many changes that would have a positive and lasting effect on students, faculty, and staff. Whether it was assisting in the formation of the Colleges of the Fenway, the opening of two new residence halls (increasing residential students from 600 to over 2,000), raising the average SAT score by nearly 20 percent, increasing the percentage of female students from eight to 21, creating the laptop initiative for students, lowering the Institute’s debt, increasing the endowment, or upgrading laboratories, classrooms, and office space, Van Domelen’s efforts have enhanced the image of the school and have helped to make Wentworth a leader in Engineering Technology graduates. In addition to the academic side of Wentworth, Van Domelen took a keen interest in making the Leopard Athletic program more competitive. During his tenure, four sports (men’s ice hockey, golf, men’s lacrosse, women’s soccer) were added, the Athletic Department’s budget increased considerably, full-time coaches and staff were added and major renovations took place within Tansey Gymnasium and the Athletic Office as a whole. Perhaps the most important addition to Wentworth achieving athletic success and recognition was the opening of Sweeney Field in the fall of 1996, on a piece of land that once served as a parking lot, a helicopter landing pad, and a small area of grass along Huntington Avenue. Van Domelen was a frequent and enthusiastic attendee at Leopard Athletic events and often times he could be heard applauding the fine job that the officials were doing. During his presidency, the Leopards won 15 conference championships and made their first five trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament, with men’s basketball earning the Institute’s first-ever bid in 1997 and hockey making appearances in 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004. Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Falls Church, Va., Van Domelen arrived on the Wentworth campus after 16 years at Norwich University, the last five as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty. Van Domelen earned his Bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics from Michigan Tech in 1964 and entered active duty with the United States Air Force shortly thereafter. A veteran of the Vietnam War, he resigned his regular commission from the Air Force in 1969 and earned his Master’s degree in Water Resource Management in 1972 and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 1976, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 1976 until his retirement as a Colonel in 1998, he was a member of the Air National Guard and US Air Force Reserve. An avid golfer, Van Domelen won many of the Institute’s tournaments during his tenure, which ended upon his retirement on June 30, 2005. He now resides in Prescott, Ariz. with his wife Naomi. They are the parents of Andrew, who graduated from Wentworth in 1996.