Thursday, May 19, 2016

One Week Away

The forecast for one week from today in Princeton is for a high of 84, a low of 61 and a slight chance of showers.

Every now and then, TigerBlog thinks of an idea for a particular day and then looks back a year or two or so ago to see if he'd written the same thing before. He figures that if he can't remember then nobody else would either, though he likes to see.

And here it is, one week before the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet, and TigerBlog figured he'd check out the weather forecast. And so he looked back to last year, and lo and behold, look what he found:
TigerBlog likes to say that the average temperature of the annual senior awards banquet is 70, since it seems like it's either 90 or 50. He hadn't looked at the 10-day forecast for Princeton until just now, and he chuckled when he saw that the forecast for the banquet one week from today is for a high of 93. For the record, TigerBlog will take the under on that one and is predicting a pleasant, comfortable evening.

That was exactly 52 weeks ago. Interesting.

There is one week until the 19th banquet. There aren't too many people who have been to all of the first 18, and TigerBlog is among them - he wasn't at the first, which was a small gathering held in Jadwin Gym.

He's been to every one since, and he knows that the weather has always been a big topic of conversation. As TB thinks back, though, there's only been one time where the weather really wiped out the evening, forcing the awards to be given the following afternoon in Jadwin Gym after a thunderstorm came tearing through the Grad College and wouldn't leave.

Each year when the banquet roles around, TigerBlog is amazed that another year has come and gone. It's not different this time.

Right now, with a week to go, there are countless details that need to be finalized. They will be. They always are.

The night will run smoothly. It always does. There's a lot that goes into this banquet, from a lot of people who work here. But it always runs smoothly.

Hey, even the weather will cooperate.

If it really is a high of 84 and a low of 61, then the evening at the Grad College could be pretty nice. And if it's really 90? It'll still be a nice night.

The banquet is a celebration of the four years for the graduating class. The Class of 2016 will have a lot to celebrate.

Princeton has won 43 Ivy League championships in the last four years. In the last two years alone, Princeton has won 27 league titles, with 21 different teams with at least one.

The banquet last year was the first for which Princeton announced finalists for its top athletic awards, the Roper Trophy and the Von Kienbusch Award. It worked out really well, with the winner announced at the banquet.

This year's nominees were announced the last two days.

The five Roper Trophy - top senior male athlete - nominees are rower Martin Barakso, pole valuter Adam Bragg, swimmer Teo D'Alessandro, baseball player Danny Hoy and soccer player Thomas Sanner. You can read their accomplishments HERE.

The six von Kienbusch Award nominees are lacrosse player Liz Bannantine, runner Cecilia Barowski, basketball player Michelle Miller, volleyball player Kendall Peterkin, fencer Gracie Stone and basketball player Alex Wheatley. Their accomplishments are HERE.

Oh, and by the way, in case you haven't thought about the 2017 von Kienbusch field, it's an incredible group. Start with water polo player Ashleigh Johnson, hammer thrower Julia Ratcliffe, fencer Kat Holmes - all three have been out this year training for the Olympics.

To that you can add soccer player Tyler Lussi, hockey player Kelsey Koelzer, lacrosse players Olivia Hompe and Ellie DeGarmo (named a first-team All-America yesterday) and probably some others that TB isn't thinking about off the top of his head.

You're talking about some of the greatest women athletes Princeton has ever had.

Ah, but that's for 2017. It'll be here soon enough.

This is still 2016. A week from the banquet.

There's more to the banquet than just the top senior athlete awards. There are also other awards, and recipients this year include such notables as John Thompson III and Clayton Marsh.

As always, it'll start with the 90-minute cocktail hour. And it'll end with the senior-athlete video.

It's gone from a small beginning in Jadwin Gym to what it has become, which is one of the signature events on the Princeton campus each year.

And this year, the weather will be good. Or it won't.

Either way, the banquet will still be great.

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