The Marquardts

When you say the name "Marquardt" to TigerBlog, he's always going to think first of Chris Marquardt, a men's basketball player from the Class of 1992.

Chris Marquardt stood 6-9 but was mostly a great three-point shooter. TB doesn't even need to look it up to know that he went to Clearwater Central Catholic High School. 

He did have to look up that Marquardt scored 426 career points. Something else he did not have to look up was that Marquardt's class remains unique as the only Princeton class to win four Ivy League championships and reach four NCAA tournaments.

In fact, since freshman became eligible in the mid-1970s, the Princeton Class of 1992 is the only Ivy League men's basketball class to play in four NCAA tournaments. On the women's side, only one class has made four NCAA tournaments - the Princeton Class of 2013.

These days, the name "Marquardt" at Princeton is associated more with swimming than basketball.

When TB saw that there was a Matthew Marquardt on the men's swimming and diving team and an Ellie Marquardt on the women's team, he wondered if they were related and possibly the children of Chris Marquardt.

As near as he can figure, and he could be completely wrong about this, it appears that none of the three Marquardts are related.

Ellie Marquardt, as a freshman in the 2019-20 season, became an All-American in the 500 and the 1,650 freestyle and was an NCAA qualifier in both before the season was ended due to the COVID pandemic. She was also the High Point Swimmer of the Meet at the Ivy championships when she won the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 and set a league record in the 500.

In one season she set three school records, and she's also in the top 10 in six other events. That's not a bad debut.

Ellie Marquardt is from Charlotte. 

Matthew Marquardt is from Cincinnati. Well, he went to high school in Cincinnati. The last few weeks, he's been from basically everywhere.

Matthew Marquardt is finishing up on an amazing adventure, having ridden his bike across the country. He started in San Diego on Dec. 30, and he arrives today in Jacksonville.

That's a long way to ride in a short amount of time. 

In fact, he reached single-day highs of 160 miles. That's a lot. 

If you missed it, there was a story about Marquardt's ride on goprincetontigers.com. You can read it HERE.

This is from the story. It's his schedule during the ride:

6:15 a.m. - wake up
6:15 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. - eat breakfast, pack up car and leave hotel
7:30 a.m. - drive to starting point
8:15 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. - start biking
Every 45 minutes stop to eat a 100-200 calorie snack (apple sauce, raisins or almond butter)
1:00 p.m. - stop for a 45 minute lunch break (eat a bag of prepared rice, eat a box of deli meat, two bananas, bottle of coconut water, maybe a few gummy bears or some cereal)
2:00 p.m. - sundown (around 5:30 p.m.) - continue to bike and stop about every 45 minutes to eat a snack
Around 6:00 p.m. - get to next hotel
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. - eat dinner, shower, use the Normatech, foam roll and stretch, clean/maintain bike and prepare it for the next day 
9:00 p.m. (or earlier) - lights out

That's incredible. 

TigerBlog is a bicycle rider. Reading the story, TB thought it would be something he might want to try, but he would probably have to do it over a much, much, much longer period of time.

The most he's ever done in one day is 34 miles. He can't imagine riding as far as Marquardt did in such a short time.

If you read the whole story, you'll see a picture painted of a young man who clearly seems to be impressive in so many ways. He talks about a commitment to service. He is headed to medical school. He certainly is in great physical condition. 

He's another example of what TB has often said about so many Princeton athletes all these years. 

Where do these people come from?