Two Newbies

Welcome to a busy week for Princeton Athletics.

The first athletic event of the 2022-23 academic year is a week from Friday, when the women's soccer team is hosting Colgate at 7. One week later, the field hockey, women's volleyball, men's soccer, men's water polo and  women's rugby teams will get started.

In the meantime, this week is a big week for athletes to report and begin practicing. You can expect more content like this:

WE ARE BACK! 🐅⚽️

Your Tigers are back home on campus! Season opener is Aug. 26 in Princeton! pic.twitter.com/r4iuSnrsDY

— Princeton WSoccer (@PrincetonWSoc) August 14, 2022

There will be gear issued, team meetings, individual photo days and ultimately training on the field, something that coaches and athletes have been waiting for all summer.

It'll also mark the first time that the incoming class of athletes will be competing alongside their returning teammates. It's a big adjustment for freshmen, who come from all over to begin their Princeton experience.

TigerBlog would like to remind them, and their parents, that their time here will fly by. It may not seem like it, but it will. It seems like only yesterday that TB was dropping his daughter and her wide eyes off at Forbes, and in a blink, well, now she's a grad in the work place.

It'll happen for the Class of 2026 as well.

Before they get started, TB wants to talk about two of the incoming athletes.

One is women's golfer Catherine Rao, who competed last week at the U.S. Amateur outside of Tacoma. Rao played her way into the match play portion of the event, when the field of 156 was cut to 64. From there she won her first three matches, reaching the quarterfinals, before she fell to rising UCLA senior Annabel Wilson of Northern Ireland.

Rao defeated another Annabelle (okay, they're spelled differently) in the Round of 16. This time, it was Annabelle Pancake from Clemson, who became the first one of those Tigers ever to reach the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur.

🤷‍♀️ Shake it off 🤷‍♀️@Princeton_WGolf's Catherine Rao is headed to the quarterfinals. #USWomensAm pic.twitter.com/RucZEGljZf

— USGA (@USGA) August 12, 2022

Rao comes to Princeton from Camarillo, Calif., which is northwest of Los Angeles. Her accomplishments prior to college include being a top 10 ranked junior in the country.

Another incoming freshman is Casey Helm of the men's track and field team. Helm comes to Princeton from Madison, Kansas, a town of 689 in the southeast part of the state.

TB stumbled across a USA Today article about Helm, who is a discus and shot put athlete. In fact, he set the Kansas state high school record as a senior with a throw of 214-1. 

The old record, the story said, was set in 1980 by Clint Johnson, whose throw was 213-6. Johnson went on to win conference championships in the discus and shot at the University of Kansas.

Also, at far as Helm's 214-1 is concerned, it would have won outdoor Heps by nearly seven feet last spring. That is incredibly impressive.

His accomplishments as a track and field athlete, while incredibly impressive, aren't what stood out the most for TB from that story. It was this quote from Helm:

"I would like my legacy to be not necessarily the accomplishments of sports, but the teammate, friend and person I was on the field and in the school. You never know what someone is going through, so I believe it's more important to show them that you are there for them." 

That's perfect, right? That's exactly what you want to hear from the athletes on your team, right? 

Princeton Athletics is about athletic success, and it's also about the life lessons that are learned through athletic competition. Education Through Athletics, it's long been called, after Ford Family Director of Athletics Emeritus Gary Walters coined the phrase.

That quote speaks to both sides of that.

The rest of the story talks about how his grandfather was the one who introduced him to the discus. You can read the whole story HERE.

So those are just two of the incoming athletes to Princeton. The fall ones are arriving and getting started. The winter and spring ones will be on campus soon and will be getting going with their own teams.

It's an exciting time. TB wishes them all the best — and reminds them how fleeting these years are, so value every second of them.