PVC AWARDS BANQUET

May 25, 2023

One of three players in program history to win two Ivy League Pitcher of the Year awards, Alexis Laudenslager joined that club in 2023 with a season that led Princeton to its second straight Ivy League title, becoming the first player in program history to throw three no-hitters in a season. The only Princeton pitcher to author five solo no-hitters in her career, Laudenslager is a two-time first-team All-Ivy League honoree, helping the Tigers to the NCAA tournament in 2022.

With a career-high 179 strikeouts this spring, Laudenslager piled up more Ks in a season than any Tiger pitcher in 15 years, and her 352 career Ks, all but 35 of which came over the last two seasons, have her seventh in the history of the storied softball program. Laudenslager is a Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering major from San Diego, Calif.

A two-time IRA national champion, Sarah Polson has been a catalyst for one of the greatest runs in Princeton Women’s Lightweight Rowing history. Unbeatable on the water, Polson and her boatmates in the first varsity have not lost to another lightweight boat during her time racing with the Tigers. Polson was in the boat that won the national championship in 2021, the program’s first title since 2003, rowing out to 26.3-second victory.

In 2022, Polson and the varsity eight dominated, not losing a single race with the closest result being just over four seconds. At the IRA Championships, the varsity eight collected its second straight gold while the team won the team crown for the first time in program history. The varsity eight also has not lost in 2023 as Polson, a physics major from Chicago, Ill., looks to finish off her career with a third straight national championship.

A 13-time Ivy League Champion and 19-time allconference honoree, Nikki Venema was the 2023 Ivy League Championships High Point Swimmer of the Meet and an NCAA Championships qualifier in the 100 and 200 freestyle. She holds program records in five events, top-10 times on the Tigers’ all-time list in eight, and is a two-time recipient of the Jerry Horton Most Valuable Swimmer or Diver award.

Venema, a psychology major from Virginia Beach, Va., was a U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier in 2021 in the 50 and 100 freestyle along with the 100 butterfly. A two-time CSCAA Scholar Athlete All-American, Venema was also named CSC Academic AllDistrict in 2023.