Samara built an unmatched legacy with Princeton University track & field
Few have accomplished more in the area of track and field than Fred Samara.
Samara, who had spent 46 years coaching track and field at Princeton University, decided to retire and has very difficult shoes to fill.
As much a part of the foundation of Princeton track and field as the Weaver Stadium running lanes themselves, the 73-yearold Samara has led the Tigers in multiple ways since 1977.
He has coached his team to 51 Heptagonal team and 502 individual championships.
Samara also coached 10 different Princeton Tigers to nine NCAA championships and guided six of his athletes to the Olympics.
In 2017, Samara was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame, a candidacy bolstered by 18 career USTFCCCA Regional Coach of the Year honors.
He was named the Mid-Atlantic Region Indoor Male Coach of the Year in 2004, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2018 and 2022 on the heels of being the Mid-Atlantic Outdoor Male Coach of the Year in 2001, 2002, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2022 sweeping the honors in 2011, 2012 and 2002.
In 2023, Samara helped lead Sondre Guttormsen to an indoor pole vault national title, and Princeton to five All-America honorees for the indoor and outdoor season.
Guttormsen cleared 6.00m to tie the collegiate record and win the indoor national championship.
As team, Princeton won the Indoor Heptagonal Championship and placed second at Outdoor Heps. Combined between the indoor and outdoor championships, the Tigers won ten individual Ivy League titles. The Tigers also sent 14 to the NCAA East Regional and had three athletes compete in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field
Championships.
TCNJ Lacrosse Earns Regional Honors
The honors continue for The College of New Jersey women’s lacrosse team.
The TCNJ women’s lacrosse coaching staff was named Boardwalk Region Coaching Staff of the Year by the IWLCA.
Coach Sharon Pfluger, along with longtime assistants Robin Selbst, Jackie Scullin, Bob Henderson, and Jaclyn Douglas, guided the Lions to a 13-3 record and the program’s 12th consecutive NJAC championship.
The Lions advanced to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 for the 38th consecutive season before falling, 14-9, to Colby.
In addition to Pfluger being named Coach of the Year, the Lions accumulated several other major NJAC awards including Attack Player of the Year (Ally Tobler), Defensive Player of the Year (Wayden Ay), and Goalkeeper of the Year (Julia Charest).
TCNJ placed six players on the All-NJAC first team, including former Notre Dame star Sabrina Phillips.
Rider’s Scott in Senior Nexus Championship
Lyric Scott, of the Rider University field hockey team, will represent the Broncs at the 2023 Senior Nexus Championship presented by Osaka Hockey.
The event will be at the Virginia Beach Regional Training Center in Virginia Beach, Va., from July 11-16.
Scott is one of 144 elite high school, collegiate and post-collegiate athletes chosen to participate at the Senior NXC.
During the spring and early summer, athletes trialed and trained at one of the seven USA Field Hockey High Performance Centers throughout the country for an opportunity to be selected to the Senior NXC, a step along the Olympic Development Pathway program.
Scott earned Second-Team AllNEC honors last season for the Broncs as a sophomore, scoring two goals and adding three assists, while anchoring the Rider midfield.
In overtime of the NEC Championship game last season, Scott assisted on the game-winning goal that clinched the NEC Championship and sent the Broncs to the NCAA Tournament.