The Princeton University Department of Athletics has named six finalists for the 2020 William Winston Roper Trophy, given annually to the top senior male athlete.
The Roper Trophy will be presented at the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet on May 28. The annual Princeton tradition will be modified this year, held virtually starting at 8 p.m. EST, and can be watched live here. For more information on the 2020 banquet, click here.
Meet The 2020 Roper Trophy Finalists!
Richmond Aririguzoh will graduate as one of the most consistent and efficient players in recent Princeton Men’s Basketball history and with a pair of All-Ivy honors to his credit.
This past season, Aririguzoh was a first-team All-Ivy selection while leading the Ivy League in offensive rebounds per game and finishing second in field goal percentage. He had a breakout game against Arizona State, recording 18 rebounds – the most by a Princeton player in a single game since 1999. For his efforts, Aririguzoh would also earn second-team NABC All-District honors.
In 2019, Arirguzoh was a second-team All-Ivy selection and an All-Tournament choice at the Ivy League Tournament in New Haven.
Aririguzoh’s career field goal percentage of .636 ranks second all-time in school history and is the highest by a Princeton player in 35 years.
He is an ecology and evolutionary biology major from Ewing, N.J.
During his time on the track as a Princeton Tiger, Joey Daniels was part of seven Ivy League Heptagonal Championship teams – four with the men’s indoor program and three outdoors.
Daniels was also a consistent presence at the NCAA Championships for the indoor and outdoor track teams during his Princeton career.
Named second-team All-America in the 110m hurdles at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Daniels was also a NCAA Regional qualifier outdoors in the 110m hurdles in 2018 and 2017. He also was an outdoor regionals qualifier in 2018 as part of the 4x100m relay team.
The Most Outstanding Indoor Performer at the Ivy League Indoor Championships in 2018, Daniels won a total of six championships as an individual or as part of a relay at indoor and outdoor Heps. He was a three-time Ivy champion in the 60m indoor hurdles, winning each of the last three Heps titles, and a two-time conference champion in the 110m hurdles outdoors. He was also part of the 4x100m relay team that won at the 2018 Ivy League Outdoor Championships.
He is an economics major from Kitchener, Ont.
Few current Tigers can say they were a part of a “first-ever” at Princeton, but George Huhmann can do so as he helped men’s volleyball to its first NCAA Tournament victory during a historic 2019 season.
A three-time honorable mention AVCA All-American with selections in 2017, 2018 and 2019, Huhmann made more history during the 2019 season when he became the first Tiger selected Uvaldo Acosta Memorial EIVA Player of the Year while also garnering EIVA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors.
A four-time first-team All-EIVA selection – just the second player in program history to earn that distinction – Huhmann burst on to the scene in 2017 by becoming just the third Tiger all-time to earn EIVA Newcomer of the Year honors.
This past season, Huhamann joined the 1,000-kill club. He twice led the EIVA in kills during a season, totaling eight different EIVA statistical category leads over his four seasons.
He is an economics major from St. Louis, Mo.
Matthew Kolodzik was already the first three-time All-American in program history, and even though the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Championships cost him a final chance to compete for an NCAA individual title, he is now the first four-time All-American in program history.
Kolodzik finished in the top seven at the NCAA Championships in all three trips, placing third as a sophomore in 2018 in his first year wrestling at 149. Having won his third EIWA title in 2020 and second at 149, he became just the fourth wrestler in program history to win three EIWA titles and first since 1941. He was the sixth wrestler in program history to finish in the top eight at the EIWAs four times.
Kolodzik was a four-time first-team All-Ivy honoree, becoming the first Princeton wrestler to do that since 1986, and in 2020 he helped Princeton to its first Ivy League title since 1986. Kolodzik was a big part in the continued resurgence of the program, with 10 of Princeton’s 23 all-time All-American honors coming in the last five seasons and Kolodzik accounting for four of those.
Kolodzik is a mechanical and aerospace engineering major from Bellbrook, Ohio.
The first-ever four-time first-team All-Ivy selection in men’s cross country program history, Conor Lundy qualified for four NCAA Cross Country Championships during his time at Princeton. He was also named USTFCCCA All-Region all four seasons
In 2018, Lundy earned All-American honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, finishing 15th in the 5K. He twice qualified for NCAA Regionals in outdoor track, doing so in 2018 and 2019.
He is a politics major from Tuckahoe, N.Y.
Michael Sowers has established himself as one of the greatest players in the history of NCAA lacrosse while destroying the Princeton record book along the way. Sowers is Princeton’s career leader in points with 302, a figure that is 57 more than the next-highest total in school history. He also has the top three single-season scoring totals in Princeton history and was well on his way to his best season through five games in 2020.
Sowers averaged 6.43 points per game, which is second in NCAA Division I history and the best in the last 39 years. He also holds the Princeton record for career assists with 181, a figure that ranks eighth in NCAA history.
His list of individual honors includes being the National Player of the Year in 2020 by Inside Lacrosse, a 2019 first-team All-American honor, being named a Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2019 and three All-American honors and first-team All-Ivy League selections (neither was awarded in 2020).
He is a history major from Dresher, Pa.
