Lightweight Crew Wins Again, Varsity Club Honors Seniors

Princeton women’s lightweight crew won a record sixth consecutive national championship at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta in Gold River, California, May 31, adding to a spectacular spring that also included the men’s lacrosse team’s NCAA title (see page 23) and Ivy League team championships in men’s lacrosse, women’s open crew, softball, women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s track and field. 

The women’s lightweight program won gold in the varsity eight and varsity four, along with the Commissioner’s Cup for the most team points. The Princeton men’s heavyweights had three IRA podium finishes, including a gold medal in the second varsity eight, and the men’s lightweights placed second in the varsity eight. Women’s open rowing finished sixth overall at the NCAA Championships, held the same weekend. 

Seventeen Princeton track and field athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships. Greg Foster ’26 (men’s long jump), Connor McCormick ’26 (men’s 1,500 meters), Shea Greene ’26 (women’s javelin), Layla Giordano ’28 (women’s discus), and Georgina Scoot ’26 (women’s triple jump) earned first-team All-America honors.

In women’s golf, freshman Thanana Kotchasanmanee made a historic individual run, winning the Ivy League title and an NCAA regional title before tying for 12th at the NCAA Championships, the best-ever finish by an Ivy athlete in the tournament. 

At the Princeton Varsity Club awards banquet in May, the year’s stellar seniors were in the spotlight. All-Americans Beth Yeager ’26 (field hockey) and Mitchell Schott ’26 (men’s swimming) won the top honors for women’s and men’s athletics, the Von Kienbusch Award and Roper Trophy, respectively.

Civil and environmental engineering major Braeden Carroll ’26 (men’s lightweight rowing) received the Class of 1916 Cup, given to the senior letter-winner with the highest academic standing. Jaden Wedderburn ’26 (football) won the Art Lane Award for “selfless contribution to sport and society,” and Shea Greene ’26 (women’s track) was selected as the Chris Sailer Leadership Award honoree. The men’s hockey team won the Ford Tiger Game Changers Award for its community service. 

Former Princeton director of athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan ’91, the CEO of U.S. Squash and a hockey and soccer star as an undergraduate, was the Class of 1967 PVC Citizen-Athlete Award winner. Bert Kerstetter ’66, a football alumnus and longtime supporter of athletics department initiatives, received the Marvin Bressler Award.