Lightweight Crew Wins Again, Varsity Club Honors Seniors

Women’s lightweight crew

Row2K Media / Princeton Athletics

By Brett Tomlinson

Published July 2, 2026

1 min read

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.

Published in the July 2026 Issue

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Henry Von Kohorn ’66

2 Weeks Ago

Princeton Athletics’ Year of Extraordinary Excellence

Princeton’s Memorial Day victory over Notre Dame in the NCAA men’s lacrosse championship was a memorable capstone to the 2025-26 athletic year. Yet remarkable as that achievement was, Princeton’s first such win in 25 years, it represented only one chapter in a year of extraordinary success for Princeton athletics — a year that can fairly be described as dominant.

The men’s lacrosse team was joined by the women’s lightweight crew and junior Zeina Zein of the women’s squash team as national champions. These accomplishments, impressive in their own right, were emblematic of a broader pattern of excellence across Princeton’s athletic program.

Princeton fields varsity teams in 38 sports. Of these, 33 vie for titles against the other Ivy League schools. The Ivy League sponsors championships in 34 sports (Princeton does not field a women’s sailing team), thus our proportional share would amount to just over four league titles. By contrast, during the 2025-26 academic year, Princeton captured 15 Ivy League championships outright and shared two others.

Princeton has won the most Ivy League titles every year since 2017-18. This year, Princeton’s level of dominance over the rest of the league was striking. Second to Princeton’s 17 titles were Harvard and Yale, who each won or shared six championships. Neither Brown nor Dartmouth won a single Ivy title, while Penn secured just one. Among Princeton’s other Ivy League teams, six finished second and six more placed third (including ties). One of these second-place teams, field hockey, advanced to the NCAA championship game before falling to Northwestern. Men’s ice hockey, which finished third in the Ivy League standings, reached the ECAC tournament final.

The five Princeton athletic teams that compete outside the Ivy League enjoyed similar success. Two won their conference championships, one finished second, and, as noted, women’s lightweight crew claimed a national title.

Princeton’s excellence is also reflected in the Learfield Directors’ Cup, awarded annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the nation’s most successful athletic programs. As would be expected, the rankings are typically dominated by schools from the major athletic conferences – the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, and Big 12 – with their extensive resources, 100,000-seat football stadiums, and athletic scholarships. This year, Princeton stood alone as the only institution outside a power conference to rank among the top 30, ranking 20th nationally, just behind Notre Dame and just ahead of Penn State.

While the men’s lacrosse championship may be the achievement most readily remembered from the 2025-26 sports year, it should not overshadow the broader story. Across virtually every arena of competition, Princeton’s team members and coaches delivered perhaps the most successful year in the University’s distinguished athletic history.