Princeton University Athletics
Women's Squash
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- gjohnsto@princeton.edu
Gavin Johnstone-Butcher is in his sixth season as the assistant coach for the Princeton women's squash team. In 2013, he helped lead Princeton to an undefeated regular season and its sixth Ivy League title in program history. He has also helped build a strong young nucleus for both the Princeton present and future with back-to-back Ivy League Rookies of the Year in Maria Elena Ubina (2014) and Olivia Fiechter (2015).
Last season, Princeton earned a national-best five All-America honors, including both afore-mentioned Rookies of the Year, and it upset Penn to finish third in the team championships. That result came one day after Princeton nearly stunned national champion Harvard in Boston before eventually falling 5-4.
During his first two years, he has helped a program loaded with youth grow into one that won the 2013 Ivy League title. Two years ago, Princeton held two match balls against the eventual undefeated national champion, Harvard; the Tigers also had three All-Americas in Julie Cerullo, Libby Eyre and Nicole Bunyan.
Johnstone-Butcher has a wealth of knowledge of the game. He hails from Zimbabwe and represented his country from 1994-2000 as a top junior player in tournaments all over Southern Africa, the United Kingdom and the U.S., and he even played at Princeton in 1998 in the World Junior Squash Tournament.
He attended St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., and then graduated from Hobart College, where he captained both the squash and the crew teams and helped his squash team finish 11th nationally in 2004. His helped his crew to a gold medal in the Freshman Four event in 2003, as well as bronze in the 2005 Varsity Four event.
Johnstone-Butcher was an assistant pro at Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, N.Y., and most recently was the Director of Squash at the Lawrenceville School for two years, where he helped achieve top finishes of second in the country with the girls team and eighth in the country with the boys.
