Tuesday, April 22, 2025

"Incredible Reaction To A Record" Tuesday

TigerBlog started the week yesterday with "Scoobie Berube," the rather cute puppy of Princeton head women's basketball coach Carla Berube. 

How can you go wrong with pictures of cute pups, right? Especially on a Monday.

By the way, Scoobie wasn't the main character yesterday. The subject was the fact that Princeton had won three more championships this weekend: Ivy titles in women's golf and women's lacrosse and EIVA regular season for men's volleyball. 

That brings the count for the year to 12 Ivy titles and two other league titles. 

The Ivy championships belong to: field hockey, women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's cross country, women's cross country, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, men's indoor track and field, women's indoor track and field, men's fencing, women's golf and women's lacrosse. The two non-Ivy teams who have won championships are men's water polo and men's volleyball.

And that doesn't include the men's soccer team, who won the Ivy League tournament. 

If yesterday was "Cute Pup Monday," that makes today "Incredible Reaction To A Record Tuesday." And it even comes with a video:

So that's Princeton junior Tessa Mudd, this past Friday night at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville. If you watch the video, you'll see all sorts of things that tell the full story. 

There's the way that pole vaulters are locked into routines, such as their steps, their gestures and everything else before they ever leave the ground. Get out of routine and your performance will suffer. 

Then there's there the precision of the vault itself. TB once wrote a story about the Guttormsen brothers, the two Princeton alums who were Olympic pole vaulters, and one of his biggest takeaways from talking to them was just how complex all the movements are and yet how fluid it all looks when done right. 

Lastly, there is Mudd's reaction (hence today's theme). It's classic. You have to see it for yourself. It's a reaction of joy and satisfaction with a mixture of surprise.

The vault was record-setting (also part of today's theme). The record she broke was her own Princeton and Ivy record, clearing 4.40m/14-5¼" to win the event in Virginia one week after she had set the previous records (which she also held).

TigerBlog went back to the NCAA track and field leaders website to see where Mudd currently stands after this vault. The site lists all of the top performances to date this season for every men's and women's event, divided into those in the East and those in the West. 

Mudd is currently tied for third in the East with Sarah Schmitt of Tennessee, behind Chloe Timberg of Rutgers (14-9) and Gemma Tuton of Duke (14-6). There are nine vaulters in the West who have beaten Mudd's vault, which puts Mudd in the mix for All-American honors come the NCAA championships. 

Timberg, by the way, won the 2024 NCAA outdoor pole vault championship. Timberg is a graduate of Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown, Pa. 

Also, there's also a relatively interesting side note about the nine vaulters in the West who are ahead of her. Of those nine, there are five who come from two schools — three from Kansas and two from South Dakota. 

Kansas and South Dakota? Seems sort of random, no? 

Of the top 20 vaulters on the men's side in the West, three are from Kansas and two from South Dakota. If you want to go back to the last six years of NCAA men's pole vault champions, they have come from Kentucky, South Alabama, Princeton (Sondre Guttormsen), Stephen F. Austin and then back-to-back years for South Dakota. The winner in two of the previous three years came from Akron. 

Why? No idea. 

Anyway, if you haven't yet taken the time to check out Mudd's reaction on the video, do so now. It is amazing. 

And what's next for TigerBlog? First there was a dog. Now there was a great reaction to a record.

Tune in tomorrow. 

at

No comments:

Post a Comment