• 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 Ivy League Head Coach of the Year
• has led Princeton to every NCAA championship regatta, dating back to 1997
• Princeton has placed in the Top 5 at NCAAs 11 times
• the Princeton V8 has made 19 of 25 NCAA grand finals
• 251 dual race wins, the most for any Princeton coach with a single rowing team
• sent six alumni to either/both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics; two set W8+ record in ’13 World Cup
• 2006 US Rowing Woman Of The Year
• two-time National Coach of the Year
Two-time National Coach of the Year Lori Dauphiny will enter her 27th year as the head coach of women’s open crew for the 2024 season, and she has led the Tigers to an unprecedented era of success over her career. Under Dauphiny, Princeton has won two V8+ NCAA Championships and 12 Ivy League crowns, and the Tigers will enter the 2024 season having won 85 of its last 89 Ivy League dual races.
The first varsity finished third at the NCAA Rowing Championships behind Stanford and Washington in 2023. It was the third time ever that the boat has medaled at NCAAs in consecutive years (2009-10, 2005-06).
Princeton also finished third in the NCAA team standings, trailing Stanford (129) and Washington (120). It was the second straight season the Tigers were third, marking the first time in program history that the Tigers finished top three in consecutive seasons. Dauphiny‘s squad was the top Ivy school with Yale going fifth (110), Penn sixth (62) and Brown seventh (91).
The 2022 season saw Princeton place third at the NCAA team standings behind Texas and Stanford, the best mark since earning silver in 1997. The Varsity Four of Roopa Venkatraman, Hailey Mead, Catherine Garrett, Natasha Neitzell and Lauren Johnson won the national title (7:05.23) over Ohio State (7:06.46), Texas (7:07.18), Stanford (7:08.54), Washington (7:10.78) and Brown (7:19.22).
The gold medal marks the first V4 medal in program history at the NCAA Rowing Championships. Venkatraman, Mead, Garrett, Neitzell and Johnson join the likes of the 1997 2V, 2006 1V and 2011 1V as the only golds in team history at NCAAs.
Princeton’s 1V trailed by a second in the first 500m to Texas before the Longhorns pulled away from the entire field (6:10.73). The Tigers were neck and neck with Stanford, but the Cardinal secured second place (6:15.43). Princeton (6:17.70) kept California (6:18.78) at bay to secure the bronze. It was the 1V’s best finish since a silver in 2013.
Princeton ran in three races along with the Dad Vail Regatta in 2021 before the team finished 10th at the NCAA Championships.
The 2020 season was cancelled due to the coronavirus.
The success has been incredible this decade. Since a magical 2011 season, when Princeton went undefeated and won its second NCAA V8+ championship, the Tigers have won nine of the last 11 Ivy League championships.
During the 2019 season, Princeton went 12-0 in the regular season and went on to take down the Ivy League title for the fourth consecutive year. The Tigers finished seventh overall at the NCAA Championships. The squad registered 94 points, nine points out sixth and 11 points out of fifth place. They surpassed their rank from last season and secured the program’s 21st top-ten finish ever. In offseason, Dauphiny was named to CRCA Hall of Fame.
In 2018, Princeton went 12-1 in the regular season, including a perfect 7-0 in the Ivy League, and won a third straight Ivy League team title. The 1V returned to the NCAA grand final for the first time since 2013 and placed fifth overall, three spots higher than the boat’s seed.
While there isn’t much that Dauphiny hadn’t already accomplished in her career, she did experience some history during the 2014 season. Princeton repeated as Ivy champion for the first time in her career — she would do so again from 2016-2018 — and the Tigers did so in thrilling fashion against a Brown crew which was also ranked No. 1 nationally at the time.
That followed a 2013 season, when Princeton won the Ivy League championship, placed second in the V8 final at the NCAAs and placed third in the NCAA team competition.
The 2011 NCAA title was Princeton’s second in a six-year span. In 2006, she put together one of the greatest college crews in NCAA history with a squad that went undefeated and won the national championship by open water. Her crew in 2011 was equally dominant, going 13-0 in the regular season and then sweeping both postseason competitions.
Princeton’s performance at the 2011 EAWRC Championships (the final year before the Ivy League Sprints) was as impressive as any in recent history. Not only did the open women win their 11th Eastern title, but Princeton swept the 2V, V4 and 3V competitions as well. While the varsity eight placed first at the NCAA Championships, the team also added a fourth-place finish; in 16 NCAA Championship appearances, Princeton has been among the top four six times.
Dauphiny has also placed several recent rowers in major international competitions, including a historic showing in the 2012 London Games, when five Princeton alumni competed. Three earned medals in the W8+, including two-time Olympic gold medalist Caroline Lind ’06. Lind was also part of the U.S. gold medal-winning 8+ at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Both Andreanne Morin ’06 and Lauren Wilkinson ’11 earned silver medal with the Canadian 8+. Stone and Wilkinson returned to the 2016 Rio Games, and they were joined by Kate Bertko ’06, another member of the historic 2006 NCAA championship team.
The 2021 Tokyo Olympics had three alumni in Stone, Hannah Scott ’21 and Claire Collins ’19. Kate Bertko was an assistant for Team USA. A multiple-time Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year, Dauphiny led the Tigers to a magical three-year run of 2004-06, when Princeton won an NCAA title and two Eastern championships and reached the grand final at the 2004 Royal Henley Regatta. Her squad advanced to the final of the Remenham Challenge, where it fell to the Thames Rowing Club and University of London. She returned to Henley in 2011 with her EAWRC/NCAA champion V8.
Dauphiny, who also worked with the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, was named head coach of women’s crew at the conclusion of the 1996 season after leading the novice program to five straight Eastern Sprints titles. She was named EAWRC Novice Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1994 and Varsity Coach of the Year in 1997, 2004, 2006 and 2011. She was also named Woman of the Year by USRowing in 2006, an award given in recognition of outstanding contributions to women’s rowing. Prior to her arrival at Princeton, Dauphiny spent two years at Columbia coaching the women’s novice crew.
A 1985 graduate of Washington, she enjoyed an outstanding collegiate career that included a second-place finish at the 1984 National Collegiate Rowing Championships. She also was a three-time winner at the Pac-10 Conference championships, the West Coast’s equivalent of the Eastern Sprints. Dauphiny twice won gold medals for the U.S. at the Canadian Henley.
Dauphiny has spent summers since 1997 working with the U.S. national team and coached the pair and lightweight double at the 2004 Olympics.
Kalfaian is in her third season with Princeton in 2024.
The first varsity finished third at the NCAA Rowing Championships behind Stanford and Washington in 2023. It was the third time ever that the boat has medaled at NCAAs in consecutive years (2009-10, 2005-06).
Princeton also finished third in the NCAA team standings, trailing Stanford (129) and Washington (120). It was the second straight season the Tigers were third, marking the first time in program history that the Tigers finished top three in consecutive seasons. Head coach Lori Dauphiny‘s squad was the top Ivy school with Yale going fifth (110), Penn sixth (62) and Brown seventh (91).
The 2022 season saw Princeton place third at the NCAA team standings behind Texas and Stanford, the best mark since earning silver in 1997. The Varsity Four of Roopa Venkatraman, Hailey Mead, Catherine Garrett, Natasha Neitzell and Lauren Johnson won the national title (7:05.23) over Ohio State (7:06.46), Texas (7:07.18), Stanford (7:08.54), Washington (7:10.78) and Brown (7:19.22).
The gold medal marks the first V4 medal in program history at the NCAA Rowing Championships. Venkatraman, Mead, Garrett, Neitzell and Johnson join the likes of the 1997 2V, 2006 1V and 2011 1V as the only golds in team history at NCAAs.
Princeton’s 1V trailed by a second in the first 500m to Texas before the Longhorns pulled away from the entire field (6:10.73). The Tigers were neck and neck with Stanford, but the Cardinal secured second place (6:15.43). Princeton (6:17.70) kept California (6:18.78) at bay to secure the bronze. It was the 1V’s best finish since a silver in 2013.
Kalfaian ’17 was four-time medal winner at the Ivy League Championships during her time at Princeton. She helped the V4B win silver in 2014, the 3V8 earn bronze in 2015, the V4A secure silver in 2016 and bronze in 2017. She also led the V4A to the NCAA Grand Final as a senior.
