Four Princeton Athletics Programs Win National Titles in 11 Days

Star pole-vaulter Sondre Guttormsen ’23 won his event at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, June 8, capping a remarkable 11-day stretch in which Princeton athletes from four different programs earned national titles. 

The gold-medal run began in Sarasota, Florida, where the women’s open varsity four — Roopa Venkatraman ’22 (coxswain), Hailey Mead ’24, Catherine Garrett ’24, Natasha Neitzell ’23, and Lauren Johnson ’22 — edged Ohio State to win their event at the NCAA Rowing Championships for the first time in school history. With a bronze medal in the varsity eight and a fifth-place finish in the second-varsity eight, Princeton finished third in the overall standings, its best NCAA finish since 1997. 

The following weekend at the IRA Regatta in West Windsor, New Jersey, the men’s heavyweight varsity four — Eleanor Bauer ’23 (coxswain), Greg Le Meur ’23, Matthew Wagner ’25, Emmett Infante ’25, and Sam Kleiner ’25 — won gold, outracing second-place Washington, which had won the event 11 straight times.

The women’s lightweight rowing team captured two IRA golds, winning the coveted varsity eight as well as the varsity double (Amelia Boehle ’25 and Kasey Shashaty ’23). Members of the winning eight were Margaret Murphy ’23 (coxswain), Sarah Fry ’24, Sarah Polson ’23, Daisy Devore ’23, Lily Feinerman ’24, Cecilia Sommerfeld ’25, Kalena Blake ’24, Rebecca Mays ’21 *22, and Nathalie Verlinde ’24.

Guttormsen, the men’s track and field team’s first outdoor champion in a decade, cleared the bar at 5.75 meters (18 feet, 10.25 inches) on his second try, beating his nearest competitor’s top mark by 2 inches. Brother Simen Guttormsen ’23 placed fourth (5.65 meters). Sondre, a 2020 Olympian from Norway, also won the NCAA’s indoor pole-vault crown in March.