With Accolades Abound, Dauphiny Prideful In Princeton Olympians

Lori Dauphiny is a Hall of Famer.

Two-time national champion

Nine NCAA Top five finishes

17 of 23 NCAA Grand Finals

10 Ivy League titles

Her team was won 75 of the last 79 Ivy League dual races.

The accolades speak for themselves.

One other accolade that should be more prominent as the Tokyo Olympics start this week …

11 Olympians

"A great sense of love," said Dauphiny describing her feelings about the Olympians during her time at Princeton. "I can't get them to the Olympics, but I can be part of their growth and that's the part I'm prideful of."

Let's start at the beginning.

Lianne (Bennion) Nelson '95 was the first women's crew alumnae to make the Olympics while Dauphiny was the Princeton coach. She was sixth in the 2000 8+ event for the United States.

In 2004, she was coached by Dauphiny at the Olympics along with Danika Harris '95 and Andreanne
Morin '06. Nelson collected a silver medal in the 8+ while Morin was seventh for Canada in the 8+ and Harris was fifth for the United States in the 4x.

2006 was a banner year as Princeton's V8 won the NCAA national championship and was widely considered one of the greatest NCAA boats ever. It featured four Olympians in Caroline Lind '06, Gevvie Stone '07, Kate Bertko '06 and Morin '06. However, at the time, only Morin had achieved Olympic status.

Morin, after graduating, flew to Canada's national team training center and had her parents drive her stuff from college back home.

Following her time at Princeton, Lind transitioned into full time with the U.S. national team. It started with the 2007 World Championships and eventually led into the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"The racing and coaching I experienced at Princeton directly correlated to my success on the national stage," said Lind. "My time with Lori and the Princeton team empowered me with those skills and thus I was able to seamlessly transition to the national team and Olympic level."

The Beijing Olympics saw Lind, Morin and Lia Parnell '03 row. Lind captured the 8+ gold medal with the United States as Morin just missed out on a medal with fourth place. Parnell also secured a fourth-place finish in the 4x.

One of the signature moments of her career for Dauphiny came at the 2012 London Olympics. Five alumnae participated including first-timers Sara Hendershot '10, Lauren Wilkinson '11 and Stone. Stone was seventh in the 1x, and Hendershot was fourth in the 2-.

The women's eight race at the Olympics is the pinnacle of the sport. In 2012, not one, not two, but three former Tigers earned medals in the race. Morin and Wilkinson nabbed silver medals for Canada while Lind recorded the gold with the United States.

"Seeing Caroline, Lauren, and Andreanne all with medals on the same podium, it was so sweet," said Dauphiny. "You have to love this sport to reach that level and I felt good that they graduated wanting more."

"It made me incredibly proud to see the success of Princeton rowers on the Olympic stage," said Wilkinson. "Even though I was racing against other Princeton women, I still took joy in their success!"

Stone and Wilkinson returned for the 2016 Rio Olympics and were joined by Bertko. Another member of the 2006 V8 national champion, Bertko placed 10th in the 2x. Wilkinson and Canada's 8+ were fifth while Stone picked up her first career Olympic medal with a silver in the 1x.

Stone's route to the Olympics is … interesting to say the least. She did not make the 2008 Olympic team and decided to go medical school. She couldn't quit rowing though as she did it on the side. She made the 2012 Olympic team and took a leave of absence from school. Following her first go-around, she kept training (though not much according to her) before postponing her residency for the 2016 Olympics.

"Lori wasn't always easy on me—she expected more from me than I thought was fair at the time," said Stone. "Now, with the wisdom of hindsight, I realize that she was pushing me to become better. She saw more potential in me than I saw in myself, and a big part of who I am today—as an Olympic silver medalist and as a person—is thanks to Lori."

Dauphiny was at the 2016 Olympics as a spectator. "I was close enough to Gevvie where she could give me a hug," said the Princeton coach. "That was everything."

There will be two first-timers for Lori's alumnae base heading to Tokyo this week in Claire Collins '19 and Hannah Scott '21 in addition to Stone '07 and Bertko '06 (coach).

Stone is now going to her third Olympic event. She finished a year of residency, but still couldn't give up her rowing dream. She took another leave of absence and will go for her second medal.

To be added to this group of Olympians coached by Dauphiny meant a lot to Collins, the 2019 C. Otto von Kienbusch winner and Scott.

"I do think it takes a lot to have gone through Princeton and then to have the energy and determination afterwards realize this dream," said Collins. "There are many Princeton Olympians I looked up to during my time there. At the boathouse, there are many and luckily Lori has coached many of them, so a lot of stories and knowledge are passed down through her. It is a real honor. "

"She was relentless with me on and off the water in that she never gave up on me," said Scott. "If I was trying to make a change technically or physically, she was adaptable and willing to work with me as much as I needed to help my rowing model. Her tenacity is part of what made me the athlete I am today."

This will make the sixth straight Olympics that Princeton women's crew team will have representatives. Rowing at the 2020 Olympics will start July 23rd and go through July 30th. For more information, check out the Rowing at the Olympics page.

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