Each week, Sports and Data editors analyze recent athletic competitions to provide analysis and insight on the happenings of Princeton athletics and individual players across the 38 intercollegiate teams at Princeton. Whether they are record-breaking or day-to-day, statistics deliver information in concise ways and help inform fans who might have missed the action.
“Statistics are a lot like bikinis, they show a lot, but not everything” — Lou Pinella, former coach of the New York Yankees.
Fifty-two games and matches were played across 20 sports and ten U.S. states over these two weeks. Ten of these games were track and field or swimming and diving meets, which were not included in our win percentage analysis as there is no winner of the meet, only of individual events. Of the remaining 42 games, the Tigers won 62 percent of games. At home, the Tigers won 78 percent of games, compared to just 36 percent of away games.
Over the past two weeks, the track and field team has been running, jumping, and throwing their way up the Princeton all-time record books.
At the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge on Jan. 26 and 27, sophomore Julia Jongejeugd dominated the pentathlon with a score of 3805, which gave her the event win and the second-highest score in Princeton history. She now only trails Taylor Morgan ’16 for the best score in Tigers history.
First-year thrower Angela McAuslan-Kelly’s weight throw of 19.6 meters landed her a victory and the second-longest weight throw ever in Princeton women’s track and field history. If she can manage to add 0.85 meters — just over 33 inches — to her throw during her time at Princeton, she’ll have top-spot bragging rights.
2022 was the last time a Princeton indoor women’s track and field record was broken at the Dr. Sander Invitational, when all-time Tiger records for the 800-meter dash and the Distance Medley Relay were set.
On the men’s side, at the Penn State National Open, a quartet of Tiger sprinters blazed their way through the competition in the 4x400 meter with a blistering first-place time of 3:09.90. First-years Xavier Donaldson, Jackson Clarke, Zach Della Rocca, and senior Andersen Dimon stand 0.55 seconds away from their own place atop all Tiger 4x400m relay teams after their outstanding group performance.
“It means the world to us, three out of the four of us are first-years so it’s great to come in and make a mark,” Donaldson told The Daily Princetonian. “Especially when our anchor leg is Andersen, a senior we all look up to,” Donaldson added.
Runners recalled how the relay nature of the race helped motivate them to succeed.
“Every day we help each other off and on the track, so when it came time to run together, we knew that each of us would perform well so that gives us the motivation to run faster as a team,” Donaldson said to the ‘Prince.’
Della Rocca also excelled individually in State College, Pennsylvania. His 6.74 second finish in the 60-meter dash was good for fourth place and vaulted him up to sixth place all-time in the Princeton record books.
Women’s indoor track and field also competed in State College on Feb. 3 at the Sykes and Sabock Invitational. The team won three events: long jump, weight throw, and shotput. The team will compete at the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston on Feb. 9–10.
On the hard courts, men’s tennis first-year Paul Inchauspe received a ranking of No. 69 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. Women’s tennis’s doubles pairing of senior Maia Sung and first-year Bella Chhiv were ranked 51st in the ITA’s most recent women’s doubles rankings.
It turns out Tigers are just as athletic in the water as they are on land.
No. 24 Women’s Swimming and Diving hosted the Harvard Crimson and the Yale Bulldogs at DeNunzio Pool last weekend. They left the Crimson and the Bulldogs far behind in their wake, swimming away with two easy wins.
Junior Alexa Pappas broke the all-time school record with a 52.81 second finish in the 100 backstroke, while senior Margaux McDonald also set a Tiger record in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:00.39 finish.
To cap off the victory, sophomores Sabrina Johnston and Heidi Smithwick, senior Ellie Marquadt, and junior Ela Noble set their own school record during the meets final race. Their 400-meter freestyle relay time of 3:15.08 launched them into first place in the Tiger record books by 0.17 seconds.
All in all, it was a triumphant week for Tiger athletics. As winter sports approach their respective postseasons, and spring sports get ready to kick-off, check back next week to stay updated on all things Princeton athletics, by the numbers.
Andrew Bosworth is head Data editor for the ‘Prince.’
Harrison Blank is an assistant editor for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’
Please send all corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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