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Players Mentioned
Dietrick, MacDonald Win Top Awards; Mills, Woolridge, McCord Also Honored
May 29, 2015 | General, Men's Lacrosse, Men's Soccer, Women's Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Sprint Football
Blake Dietrick ,who led the women's basketball team to unprecedented success and national prominence, and Mike MacDonald, who rewrote much of the Princeton men's lacrosse record book during his career, were named the top senior sportswoman and sportsman at the Gary Walters '67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet on May 28.
For the first time in Princeton Athletics history, there were finalists named for the top two departmental awards, the C. Otto von Kienbusch Sportwoman of the Year Award and William Winston Roper Trophy for the top senior sportsman. Dietrick and MacDonald, the two winners, were announced at the banquet.
The Department of Athletics also announced the winners of its other major awards.
Tiana Wooldridge of the women's volleyball team and Andrew Mills of the men's soccer team shared the Art Lane '34 Award, given for outstanding contribution to sport and society by an undergraduate athlete. Chris McCord of the sprint football team won the Class of 1916 as the senior athlete with the highest academic standing.
Blake Dietrick wrapped up a stellar senior season by leading the Princeton University women's basketball team to an unblemished 30-0 regular season and a fifth Ivy League title in six years, as well as the highest national ranking in Ivy League women's basketball history (13).
Dietrick averaged career-highs in points (15.1), assists (4.9), and rebounds (4.5) per game en route to Associated Press and WBCA Honorable Mention All-America honors. A seven-time Ivy Player of the Week, she was the conference's unanimous choice for Player of the Year. Setting a single-season program record for assists (157), her 483 points in 2014-15 are tied for the third highest total in school history.
A two-time first-team All-Ivy selection, Dietrick wrapped up a decorated career ranked third on the Princeton charts in three-pointers made (210) and three-point shooting percentage (.395). Sitting fourth in assists (346) and 11th in scoring (1,233), she poured in a team-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting in her final collegiate contest, a NCAA second-round loss to eventual Final Four participant Maryland.
She later represented the Tigers in the annual State Farm College three-point Shooting Championships at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., and signed a training camp contract with the Women's National Basketball Association's (WNBA) Washington Mystics.
Dietrick is an English major from Wellesley, Mass.
The other finalists for the award were Lindsay Graff of the women's tennis team, Lauren Lazo of the women's soccer team and Erin McMunn of the women's lacrosse team.
Mike MacDonald graduates as one of the greatest scorers in the long history of Princeton men's lacrosse, with several accomplishments that no other player in program history has ever matched.
MacDonald set the school record for points in a season this past season, when he had 78 points on 48 goals and 30 assists. He graduates third all-time in goal scoring in program history with 132, as well as fourth all-time in points with 208 and ninth all-time in assists with 76.
In addition, he is the only player in program history with a season of at least 40 goals and at least 30 assists and the only player in program history with at least one game of seven goals and another of six assists. He is one of two players at Princeton in the top 10 all-time in both goals and assists. He scored at least three goals in a game 10 times as a senior.
His career numbers would have been even more off the charts had he not been slowed by injuries that required surgery to both hips after his junior year.
MacDonald was the 2015 Ivy League Co-Player of the Year and a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection, giving him two first-team All-Ivy selections in his career.
MacDonald is a politics major from Georgetown, Ont.
The other finalists for the award were Quinn Epperly of the football team, Cody Eppel of the men's volleyball team, Sammy Kang of the men's squash team and Cameron Porter of the men's soccer team.
Andrew Mills was named second-team All-Ivy League this season for the Ivy League co-champion men's soccer team. A defender and tri-captain, he played in 15 games and made 14 starts. He was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on November 3 after scoring the game-winning goal in the 87th minute at Cornell in a must-win game for the Tigers. Mills earned the team's Rob Myslik Award – given to a member of the men's soccer team who most demonstrates a passion for life, a fiery competitiveness an unwavering honesty and a selfless generosity - at the annual banquet in April.
In addition, he first re-established the Princeton chapter of Best Buddies - an organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and development disabilities – as a freshman, and he has served as chapter president ever since. Under his leadership, the chapter has grown to 46 members, including 16 members with intellectual and development disabilities who have been paired in one-to-one friendships with Princeton students.
Mills also worked as a student-athlete wellness leader, and he organized a booth at Frist during Mental Health Awareness Week to inform athletes about the resources available to them on campus. He also was a volunteer coach of a 4th and 5th grade team in the Dillon Youth Basketball League and volunteer on the “Restore The Shore” program as part of the Princeton Varsity Club's Weapons of Mass Construction initiative.
Mills is a Woodrow Wilson School major from Sacremento, Calif.
Tiana Woolridge, also a member of the Woodrow Wilson School, from Sherman Oaks, Calif., was a two-time All-Ivy League middle blocker on the women's volleyball team. One of the league's most efficient hitters during her career, she ranked first and third in the Ivy League in her two seasons as a starter.
Woolridge, who missed her senior season due to a preseason injury, was also one of the most dominant defensive players in the league. She had 144 blocks to go along with the 313 kills she recorded in her career.
She was one of five finalists for the Wooden Citizenship Cup, given to amateur athletes for their character and leadership both on and off the field and for their contributions to sport and society.
Woolriddge was the founder of the Student-Athlete Service Council, which enables interested student-athletes to get more involved with community projects and which now has 10 varsity athletes serving in leadership roles.
In addition, she is on the executive board for the Student Volunteer Council as part of the PACE Center, where she has served as the mentoring projects coordinator.
She has been director of fundraising for the Princeton chapter of the Foundation for Medical Relief of Children, including coordinating a relief trip to Costa Rica. She interned with the Presidential Commision for the Study of Bioethcial Issues in Washington, D.C., last summer, and was the Vice President of the Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students, as well as the leader of a highly successful campus blood drive through the Student Health Advisory Board.
As a junior she won the prestigious Spirit of Princeton Award, given to a select number of undergraduate students who have made positive contributions to campus life.
A four-year letterwinner on the Princeton sprint football team, Chris McCord has been a staple in the Tigers' lineup, serving as one of the team's captains during the last two seasons.
As a junior, he made 35 receptions, the second-highest single-season total in program history, and his 500 receiving yards in 2013 are fourth on the school's all-time list. In his final year, he once again made double-digit receptions, finishing second on the squad in receiving.
He was a first-team All-CSFL selection as a junior and a second-team All-CSFL selection as a sophomore and senior. He was named an Academic All-Ivy League honoree this past fall.
McCord is an operations research and financial engineering major from Newark, Del.