Spring Break Update

TigerBlog likes to drive to campus by coming up Nassau Street and turning onto Washington Road, down to Faculty Road. 

Usually, both Nassau and Washington are jammed with people, especially if TB drives down Washington Road when classes are letting out. He sees all kinds of Princeton athletes, some he knows and most he doesn't, and it's a great reminder that Princeton Athletics have always been and remain an extension of the overall educational mission of those who compete here.

As TB drove down Washington Rd. yesterday, he counted three people that he saw along the way. Only three? That's what happens when it's Spring Break here.

TB was on the men's lacrosse bus Sunday as it came back from the team's 14-8 win at Rutgers, and as the bus pulled onto the campus, head coach Matt Madalon remarked that you could "feel the stillness" of Spring Break. It's so true. This campus just has a completely different vibe when the students aren't around, and it all changes on a dime.

The big story in Princeton Athletics this week is, of course, the coming Ivy League basketball tournaments at Columbia. As a reminder, here are the matchups:

On the women's side, it's No. 1 seed Princeton vs. No. 4 seed Penn at 4:30 and then No. 2 Columbia against No. 3 Harvard at 7:30. Those games are on ESPN+. The winners meet Saturday at 5, on ESPNEWS, for the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

On the men's side, it's No. 1 Princeton vs. No. 4 Brown Saturday at 11 on ESPNU, followed by No. 2 Yale vs. No. 3 Cornell at ESPNEWS at 2. The winners play Sunday at noon on ESPN2.

Basketball, though, is not the only Princeton news this week. Consider:

* 

The wrestling team had three automatic NCAA qualifiers after this past weekend's EIWA championships at Bucknell. The three are: Nate Dugan, who was the runner- up at 184, Luke Stout, who took sixth at 197, and Matt Cover, who was fourth at 285 after being seeded eighth.

Those three are definites for the NCAA meet in Kansas City, beginning a week from Friday. There are still at-large selections to be announced tomorrow, so the Tigers could have others who make the cut.

*

Evan Harmeling finished 10th at the PGA Tour's Puerto Rico Open this past weekend. Harmeling, a 2012 Princeton grad, finished at 15-under after shooting 70-69-67-67. 

If you're wondering, his earnings for the weekend were $97,000.

Harmeling has a fascinating story. He's 35, and this weekend marked his first PGA Tour appearance after years on the Korn Ferry and other tours. He also runs a foundation that supports inner-city education, and you can read about those efforts HERE.

If you don't want to read that whole story, read this excerpt from it:  

Harmeling is putting his money where his mouth is. The Princeton alum has launched the Evan and Ariel Harmeling Foundation, alongside wife Ariel, aiming to provide greater educational opportunities for kids who wouldn’t have them otherwise.

*

Another impressive Princetonian is football player Jalen Travis, the 6-9, 315-pound offensive lineman who is a two-time All-Ivy selection and a likely NFL player down the road.

If pro football doesn't work out, though, Travis still has a future that seems limitless. 

Last week, Travis was announced as the winner of the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup. According to its website: 

The Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup is presented to six distinguished athletes from any sport – male/female high school, male/female intercollegiate, and male/female professional – who best display character, teamwork, and citizenship, the attributes Athletes for a Better World deems central to transforming individuals, sport, and society.  The award establishes the recipients as athletes of excellence both on and off the field, role models both as performers and persons, the most important and distinctive honor athletes can achieve.

HERE is the complete release about Travis and his honor.

*

For this Spring Break, you can see Princeton teams compete all over the country, in places like California (women's water polo, women's rugby, softball, men's tennis), Florida (women's lacrosse, women's tennis), Virginia (baseball), Louisiana (women's golf) — and even New Jersey (men's lacrosse, men's volleyball).

The complete schedule is HERE.