Princeton University Athletics
Von Kienbusch Award
June 22, 2006 | General
SIX TIGER STANDOUTS SHARE VON KIENSBUSCH AWARD
Soccer player Emily Behncke, runner Cack Ferrell, fencer Jacquelyn Leahy, rower Caroline Lind, softball player Erin Snyder and lacrosse player Lauren Vance will share the 2006 C. Otto von Kienbusch Award.
The Von Kienbusch Award, presented in memory of a member of the Class of 1906, goes annually to "a senior woman of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated a general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportswoman."
Emily Behncke , who finished third all-time at Princeton in goals scored with 39 and points with 90, was a three-time first-team All-Ivy League selection and the 2005 Ivy League Player of the Year. She was also a third-team All-America and first-team Regional All-America. The younger sister of former Tiger men's soccer greats Griff and Matt Behncke, Emily began her career as the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a second-team All-Ivy selection in 2002, joining her brother Matt as the only brother-sister combination ever to win Ivy Rookie of the Year in soccer. She scored four goals during the Tigers' run to the 2004 NCAA Final Four, including both goals in a 2-0 win over Boston College in the Sweet 16 and a goal against Washington in the 3-1 win in the quarterfinals.
Cack Ferrell is one of the greatest distance runners in Princeton history. She is a six-time All-America and a two-time Athlete of the Meet at Ivy League Heptagonals, a four-time Heps champion and an eight-time All-Ivy selection. Ferrell holds school records in both the mile and 3,000-meter runs indoors and the 5,000-meter run outdoors, as well as all-time best Princeton marks in cross country at both the Princeton Battlefield and Van Cortlandt Park.
Ferrell earned All-America honors three times in cross country, finishing 10th nationally in 2005, 20th in 2004 and 22nd in 2003. She became just the second Princeton runner to earn an NCAA regional cross country championship this past fall, when she won the Mid-Atlantic regional meet at Lehigh. She was an All-America twice in the 3,000 meters indoors, finishing third nationally in 2005 and fourth in 2004.
She earned Athlete of the Meet honors at Indoor Heptagonals in both 2004 and 2006 after winning both the mile and 3,000-meter races. This past month, she won both the 3,000 and 5,000-meter races at Outdoor Heptagonals, and she will compete in the NCAA outdoor championships in the 5,000 meters next week in California.
Jacquelyn Leahy earned her fourth All-America honor in 2006, claiming a bronze medal in the epee at the NCAA Championships in March.
Jacquelyn had an amazing 33-0 dual-meet record during her senior season and closed out her career with a 57-1 record in Ivy bouts. In her four seasons, Leahy finished seventh as a freshman, fourth as a sophomore and third as a junior and senior at the NCAA national meet. In addition to her athletic accomplishments, Jacquelyn was also an important member of the Princeton Varsity Student-Atlhete Advisory Committee.
Caroline Lind of the women's open crew was a three-time All-Region and two-time All-America selection who capped a brilliant career by stroking the Princeton open crew to the 2006 national championship. Lind, the stroke for the U.S. national team this past September in Gifu, Japan, led Princeton to a pair of Ivy League titles and has helped carry the Tigers to 36 straight dual victories. As a senior, she led the Tigers to a program-record 14 wins and dominant wins in both the Eastern Sprint and NCAA grand finals. Lind was part of the Princeton NCAA first varsity all four years and helped Princeton to a second-place finish in 2005, giving her a pair of top-two NCAA finishes. Erin Snyder was a two-time Ivy League Pitcher of the Year who led the softball team to three Ivy League titles. Snyder moved past head coach Maureen Barron on the career strikeouts list early in the season and ended up bettering her mentor's total by more than 200 with 819. She finished her senior year with a 17-7 record, picking up Ivy League Pitcher of the Year honors for the second straight season. In one weekend, she threw a perfect game against Yale and struck out 19 of a maximum 21 batters against Brown on the way to a 12-2 Ivy record for the Tigers. Compared to 258 strikeouts, a school record, Snyder walked only eight batters all season. Snyder was a three-time first-team All-Ivy selection.
Lauren Vance of the women's lacrosse team was the 2006 Ivy League Co-Player of the Year and a first-team All-America pick in women's lacrosse, as well as a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League pick in 2006 and one of 21 nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy honoring the national player of the year.
Vance was a second-team All-America pick in 2005 and a third-team All-America selection in 2004. She started every game in each of her last three seasons and earned first-team all-region honors each of those years. She helped the Tigers win a national championship in 2003 and Ivy League titles in 2003, 2004 and 2006.