Princeton University Athletics
Ten Princeton Tigers Earn Winter Academic All-Ivy Honors
April 02, 2008 | General
Five members of Ivy League championship squads, five NCAA qualifiers, a national champion, a Rhodes Scholar and a 2008 Olympian highlight the 2007-08 Princeton Winter Academic All-Ivy squad. Five male and five female student-athletes from eight different teams were honored by the league office this week for their success in both the classroom and with their respective teams.
WOMEN
Fencer Jasjit Bhinder (Jr., Newburgh, N.Y., Molecular Biology) earned first-team All-Ivy honors in the epee, where she finished with a 13-5 record and a .733 winning percentage. She would go on to the NCAA championships, where she placed 11th overall and claimed All-America honors.
Swimmers Justina DiFazio (Jr., Burlington, Ont., Anthropology) and Monika Friedman (Jr., Stanford, Calif., Psychology) both earned first-team All-Ivy League honors after helping Princeton to a dominant victory in the 2008 Ivy League championship meet at DeNunzio Pool. Friedman was the Ivy League champion in both the 100 and 200 fly; they were the first league titles of her career. DiFazio, a previous individual champion over the last two years, helped the 800 free relay break the program record and qualify for NCAAs, where it would earn All-America honors. Friedman also qualified for the NCAA championships in the 200 fly, and both will look for a return trip and their fourth straight Ivy League championship next year.
Squash captain Carly Grabowski (Sr., Princeton, N.J., Economics) helped Princeton to its second consecutive Howe Cup national championship with her typically consistent play in the Tiger lineup. She has been one of the program's most consistent performers throughout her career and even won the clinching match in the 2007 national final. Her epic 3-2 win in the 6-3 national championship win over Penn was the highlight match of the day and a perfect ending to her career.
Hockey forward Micol Martinelli (Sr., Princeton, N.J., Economics) was a leader in the locker room and one of the premier student-athletes in the league. She was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team and was an ECAC Student-Athlete of the Year finalist.
MEN
Kyle Hagel (Sr., Hamilton, Ont., Politics) and Landis Stankievech (Sr., Trochu, Alb., Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering) both arrived at Princeton at the same time as new men's hockey coach Guy Gadowsky. Four years later, both Hagel and Stankievech were part of Princeton's second ECAC championship squad, as well as its first outright Ivy League champion. Hagel was one of the leading presences in the locker room and earned a spot on the ECAC All-Academic Team. Stankievech, who scored the winning goal in the ECAC championship game win over Harvard, earned a Rhodes Scholarship and the Pyne Prize this winter. He was also named ECAC Student-Athlete of the Year.
Swimmer Doug Lennox (Jr., Lake Forest, Ill., Anthropology) won the 200 fly in the 2008 EISL championships, giving him two individual titles in as many years. Lennox' winning time qualified him for the NCAA championships, and he made the trip worthwhile by earning first-team All-America honors with a fourth-place finish in the 200 fly championship final. Lennox has already qualified for the Puerto Rican Olympic swim team.
Distance specialist Michael Maag (Jr., Lake Oswego, Ore., Economics) followed his cross country Heptagonal championship in the fall with a victory in the indoor track 3,000-meter Heptagonal championship. Like Lennox, he earned a trip to the NCAA championships, where he qualified in the mile.
Squash captain Tom McKay (Sr., Ridgewood, N.J., Politics) led Princeton to one of the most dominant squash seasons in Ivy League history. McKay went undefeated in league play, as did every other member of the Tiger lineup, but McKay added a 3-0 performance in the national team championships, including Princeton's only win in the national final against Trinity.