The Year at Princeton: Top five sports headlines

PAW editors ranked the top five Princeton sports headlines in an eventful year that included three national championships, seven Olympic medals, and a memorable Saturday at Princeton Stadium. Share your picks and rankings below in the comments.

5. Cabral ’12 leaps to victory in NCAA steeplechase

An exceptional year for the men’s track and field team ended with Donn Cabral ’12 doing what no Princeton runner had done in nearly eight decades: With his first-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Championships June 9, he became the first Princeton runner to win an NCAA title since 1934. READ MORE

4. Football stuns Harvard with come-from-behind victory

During the Oct. 20 football game against Harvard, 10,823 Princeton fans learned how wide a range of emotions they could feel in a three-and-a-half-hour span. READ MORE

3. Princetonians excel at London Olympics

Seven Tiger athletes won medals, including repeat gold-medalist rower Caroline Lind ’06, and Russia men’s basketball coach David Blatt ’81 led his team to bronze. It was the best showing in Princeton’s long history at the summer games. READ MORE

2. Field hockey beats North Carolina to win first NCAA title

Before 2012, the field hockey team had a history of November heartbreak. Princeton had reached 11 quarterfinals, five semifinals and two championship games — but it had never won the big one, falling short in the 1996 and ’98 title games. All that changed on a Sunday afternoon in Norfolk, Va. READ MORE

1. Men’s squash defeats Trinity for national title

In front of a raucous crowd in a packed Jadwin Gym, the men’s squash team ended Trinity’s 13-year streak as national champions Feb. 19, winning its first national championship since 1993 with a 5–4 victory against No. 1-seeded Trinity. READ MORE