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By Dave Hunter ’72

Chris Bendtsen '14 (Photo: Courtesy Office of Athletic Communications)

Louisville, Ky. — Saving its best for last, the Princeton men’s cross country squad ran a brilliant and heady race when it counted most. Closing hard over the final kilometers in Louisville’s E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park, the Tiger runners moved smartly through the field and captured their prize: an 11th place team finish – the best NCAA championship performance by any men’s cross country team in the school’s history. A beaming Jason Vigilante – the Tigers’ new head coach – described his charges’ big race performance as “beyond exceptional.” 

The Tigers were led by Heptagonal champion Chris Bendtsen ’14 who raced over the 10-kilometer course in 30:07 to finish 43rd. Chasing him into the finish chute were Heps runner-up Alejandro Arroyo Yamin ’14 (58th in 30:24) and Tyler Udland ’14 ( 79th in 30:33). Mike Franklin ’13 (134th in 31:06) and Matt McDonald ’15 (151st in 31:06) rounded out the scoring.

Nimble preseason adjustments were necessary to preserve the team’s opportunity for success this fall, and Vigilante cited the resiliency of his athletes. They were compelled to adapt to the late summer departure of Tiger head coach and distance guru Steve Dolan – who left Princeton to take on the director of track and cross country position at Penn – and to Vigilante’s arrival as the new coach.  

“The guys who had moved on from the program had really established a phenomenal culture. For me coming in, it wasn’t difficult. I was accepted,” Vigilante said. “The runners here wanted to be part of a new program, a new page.” 

But the head coach is quick to acknowledge this season’s boost from the legacy of excellence established by Dolan and his accomplished athletes, many of whom had graduated. “Coach Dolan had done a tremendous job. Donn Cabral, Joe Stilin, and Trevor Van Ackeren [all of the Class of 2012] really were the foundation for developing this new program. This is the byproduct of that.”

In the women’s 6-kilometer championship race, senior Greta Feldman – who earlier this year earned All-America honors for her sixth-place finish in the 1,500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships – ran 20:42.5 to finish 88th.

Dave Hunter ’72, the 1968 recipient of Princeton’s Rosengarten Trophy, is a lawyer and a banker in Akron, Ohio.  He ran his marathon PR of 2:31:40 in the 1983 Boston Marathon.

The 1985 bonfire, pictured on PAW's Dec. 18, 1985, cover.

When the Tiger football team lights up Cannon Green on Nov. 17, it will be Princeton’s first celebratory conflagration since 2006 — and the first bonfire for every undergraduate on campus. We’ve combed through the PAW archives to provide a little advice.

Tip No. 1: Don’t jinx it.

This no longer applies for 2012, but it is worth mentioning for the future. When Princeton beat Harvard in 2005, the campus was beginning to sense the end of a 11-year bonfire drought. Jim Consolloy, then the University’s grounds manager, feared that after a dry autumn, the century-old white ash trees that surround Cannon Green might be at risk, so he made arrangements to soak the trees in advance. Yale put his fears to rest with a comeback victory at Princeton Stadium. A year later, Princeton managed to sweep the Big Three and light the bonfire; the trees were not harmed.

Tip No. 2: Be patient.

Student pranksters started the 1951 bonfire a bit early — actually, a day early. Half of the wood burned before the fire was put out, and the pile had to be rebuilt hours before the big event. PAW On the Campus columnist Geoffrey L. Tickner ’52 blamed both the students and the proctors charged with protecting the wood. “With the woodpile unguarded,” Tickner wrote, “their skullduggery was easy.”

Tip No. 3: Show up on time.

In 1988, captain Jason Garrett ’89 was expected to light the bonfire, but when the time came, the star quarterback was nowhere to be found. (PAW reported that he’d been in the weight room.) Garrett’s center, Bob Surace ’90, did the job in his absence. Surace will be back on Cannon Green Saturday, this time as the Tigers’ head coach.

Christina Lazaridi '92 co-wrote the screenplay for "Coming Up Roses," which opened at the AMC Village 7 in New York City last week. (Photo: Courtesy Christina Lazaridi)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW's Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Photo: Courtesy People for Derek Kilmer

It’s safe to say that Derek Kilmer ’96 did not lose track of his hometown when he went away to college. The Port Angeles, Wash.-native wrote his senior thesis about the “social and economic impacts of the Pacific Northwest timber crisis,” specifically analyzing the Clinton Forest Plan, which was adopted in 1994. After college, Kilmer studied social policy at Oxford as a Marshall scholar and eventually returned home to work for the economic development office in Tacoma-Pierce County. Since 2004, he has been climbing the ladder of local politics, first serving as a state representative, then as a state senator. On Tuesday, he reached another rung, winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

“I ran for Congress because a lot of middle-class families and small businesses are struggling,” Kilmer told the Seattle Times, “and they need someone who’s going to fight for them.”

Election day went well for a majority of Princeton’s 10 alumni candidates: Six are headed to Congress. Four are incumbents and two are newcomers — Kilmer and Ted Cruz ’92, who was PAW’s Tiger of the Week in August after he earned the Republican nomination for the Texas Senate race, scoring an upset victory in a runoff contest. For information about all 10 candidates, click here.

Ten Princetonians were on the ballots for Tuesday’s congressional elections — five Democrats and five Republicans. Read below to see how these alumni fared.

Photo: Courtesy Randy Altschuler for Congress	Randy Altschuler ’93, R-N.Y. After narrowly losing to Democrat Tim Bishop in 2010 (the race was not settled until more than a week after election day), Altschuler again challenged Bishop in New York’s First Congressional District on Long Island. Altschuler lost another close race, this time by a four point margin, according to The New York Times.
Photo: Courtesy Ted Cruz for Senate	Ted Cruz ’92, R-Texas (Senate) Cruz, a former state solicitor general and Tea Party favorite in the race to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, may have won his most important race in late July, when he defeated Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff. In November, he scored a “solid victory” over Democrat Paul Sadler; the Austin American-Statesman reported the result just minutes after the polls closed.
Photo: Courtesy Gill for Congress	Ricky Gill ’09, R-Calif. The 25-year-old Gill was still in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, when he declared his candidacy (he graduated this year). He challenged Rep. Jerry McNerney, a three-term Democratic incumbent who moved to California’s newly drawn Ninth Congressional District, and lost in a close race, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Photo: Wikipedia/U.S. Congress	Nan Hayworth ’81, R-N.Y. The New York Times reports that Hayworth will not return to Congress after falling to Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, a former White House adviser in the Clinton administration, in New York’s 18th Congressional District. An ophthalmologist who entered politics in 2010, Hayworth served one term representing New York’s 19th Congressional District before running in the re-drawn 18th.
Photo: Courtesy People for Derek Kilmer	Derek Kilmer ’96, D-Wash. When 18-term incumbent Rep. Norm Dicks announced his retirement, several Democrats in northwest Washington State considered running for the opening in the Sixth Congressional District. Kilmer, a state senator and former state representative, earned Dicks’ endorsement. On Tuesday, he won the seat, defeating Republican Bill Driscoll, according to the Tacoma News Tribune.
Photo: Wikipedia/U.S. Congress	Leonard Lance *82, R-N.J. Lance retained his seat in New Jersey’s Seventh Congressional District, defeating Democratic challenger Upendra Chivukula, according to Star-Ledger. A Congressman since 2009, Lance has a long history in public service. After earning an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School, he was an assistant counsel for Gov. Tom Kean ’57 in the 1980s, served in the state assembly for most of the 1990s, and spent 2001 to 2007 in the state senate.
Photo: Wikipedia/U.S. Congress	Jared Schutz Polis ’96, D-Colo. The Denver Post reports that Polis has earned his third term as the representative from Colorado’s Second Congressional District, defeating Republican state Sen. Kevin Lundberg. A former a former Web entrepreneur, Colorado Sate Board of Education member, Polis has been a prominent education advocate, co-sponsoring the 2011 Race to the Top Act.
Photo: Hayden Rogers for Congress	Hayden Rogers ’95, D-N.C. Rogers worked behind the scenes in Washington as chief of staff for Rep. Heath Shuler, and when Shuler decided not to run for re-election, his top deputy decided to make his own bid for the job. After earning the Democratic nomination, Rogers lost in the general election to Republican Mark Meadows, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Photo: Wikipedia/U.S. Congress	John Sarbanes ’84, D-Md. The Baltimore Sun reports that Sarbanes was elected to a fourth term as the representative from Maryland’s Third Congressional District, which spans from Annapolis to Baltimore. Sarbanes’ time on Capitol Hill began in 2007, just as his father, Paul, was leaving office. Sen. Paul Sarbanes ’54 served in the Senate from 1977 to 2007.
Photo: Wikipedia/U.S. Congress	Terri Sewell ’86, D-Ala. Sewell handily defeated Republican challenger Don Chamberlain and will continue to represent Alabama’s Seventh Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. A Harvard Law graduate and former partner in a Birmingham firm, Sewell became the first black woman to be elected to Congress from the state of Alabama in 2010.

“The election of Ex-President Woodrow Wilson ’79 to the Presidency of the United States was jubilantly celebrated in Princeton. President Hibben ordered the bell rung and the national flag raised on Nassau Hall, suspended the exercises of the University and made Wednesday a holiday, and sent the following message to the President-elect: ‘In the name of Princeton University I extend to you the congratulations and best wishes of your Alma Mater upon your election to the Presidency of the United States.’ ”

The Nov. 6, 1912, issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly.