With the spring sports season coming to an end, it’s time to bid adieu to another cohort of seniors, and included in them, some of Penn’s best athletes of recent memory. In honor of these graduates, it’s time to look at some of the most impactful seniors of the spring sports teams.
Baseball
Infielder Craig Larsen lost much of his collegiate career to COVID-19, but has still managed to imprint his legacy on the program. In his senior campaign, which is still ongoing with the Ivy League Championship Series this weekend, Larsen has accumulated 36 runs and five home runs on the season so far. And on the defensive end, he leads the team in assists with 93. He also has made 16 double plays on the season thus far, good for third best on the team.
Larsen was a strong player for the Quakers even as a freshman. He started 40 out of 41 games for the Quakers and set the record for most RBIs ever by a Penn freshman, accumulating 44 on the season. He also set the NCAA record for most at-bats in a game with 12 during a 21-inning game against Dartmouth. His success that season earned him second team All-Ivy honors.
Women’s Golf
Consistent. That’s the word to describe Mary Shin’s career with the Quakers.
Shin started off strong in her freshman year, when she appeared in all seven of the team's tournaments and had the team-low 74.9 stroke average. She notched several strong finishes, including two third overall finishes.
Shin was named second team All-Ivy for her efforts. Her low round of 68 at the Yale Fall Intercollegiate is tied for a program record.
The Irvine, Calif. native's stroke average was nearly identical in her sophomore season, with a 74.7 mark. Her stroke average of 76.1 in her senior year was second on the team. She’s also had success as a senior, including an individual medal at Hartford’s Gillette Ridge Invitational and fifth overall at the Women’s Intercollegiate at Prospect Bay.
Men's Golf
Mark Haghani had the honor of being captain in his senior season, and for good reason. Haghani has had a prolific career with the Quakers, starting in his freshman season where he earned at least fifth among Penn players in all of his tournaments — a hint of the success to come.
In his senior season, Haghani played some of his best golf of his career. He held a 72.3 stroke average, the lowest on the team, and even reached a low of 65 at this year’s Cornell Invitational. He was Penn’s low player in eight of nine tournaments on the season. His success brought him to the Ivy Championship, where he tied for second overall. Haghani truly went out with a bang, earning first team All-Ivy for his farewell campaign.
Men’s Lacrosse
Sam Handley’s lacrosse career with the Quakers was a historic one from the start. He set three freshman records: most points (61), goals (35), and assists (26). His 61 points his freshman year is the fourth-best by a Penn player of any year. That type of play earned him the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year and first team All-Ivy.
Handley's senior season was reminiscent of his freshman campaign. Currently, Handley is second on the team for goals (36). He more than doubles anyone else on the team in assists (34), and leads the team in points (70). The Portland native has nine hat tricks on the season and had a career-high 11 points against the Princeton Tigers in March.
Women’s Lacrosse
Taylyn Stadler has been an impactful player on the pitch since she was a freshman. She was the only freshman to start every game that season and scored in all but one of those 18 contests. Stadler finished the season with four hat tricks.
Despite losing almost two entire seasons to COVID-19, Stadler is still the type of player she was freshman year. Even in her shortened seasons, she started every game and accumulated plenty of goals during them. As a senior, she had 10 goals on the season and the second-most assists on the team with 13.
Men's Heavyweight Rowing
Patrik Farkas came all the way from Croatia to don the red and blue and has made the most of his career so far.
As a freshman, he competed primarily in the Varsity 8+ and helped propel the team to numerous second- and third-place finishes in their competitions. Farkas also competed in the EARC Sprints and IRA Regatta as part of the Second Varsity 8+. He continued to help out the Second Varsity 8+ as a junior after a season canceled from COVID-19, but in that season, he took on the role of the stroke seat. Now as a senior, he’s contributed to the team’s two first-place Madeira Cup finishes.
Women's Rowing
Chloe Rosenberg has been rowing valiantly throughout the entirety of her Quaker career. She was designated to the Varsity 8+ for every tournament that she’s competed in thus far and was at the cox position for all of them. During her freshman year, she was invited to race at the Ivy Invitationals and the Ivy League Championship.
Rosenberg and her team have been building off of its previous success. And her role as cox does seem to be working, considering she still retains that position. In 2021, she and her fellow Quakers started strong with a 6:31.97 in the Murphy Cup that earned them a first-place finish. Rosenberg’s successes both as a student and an athlete earned her the CRCA Scholar-Athlete award in her junior year.
Men's Lightweight Rowing
Julianna Langhorn made sure her presence was felt right from the start of her freshman year as the team's cox. She competed in eight tournaments her debut season, including the EARC Sprints and IRA Regatta. Her contribution to the team’s success that freshman year — including a first-place finish at the EARC Sprints in one heat — landed her first team All-Ivy and EARC Lightweight Crew Member of the Year honors.
In her junior season, Langhorn helped propel the team to three first-place finishes in its season tournaments. Her strength in the boat and in the classroom earned her an IRCA Scholar Athlete award. She was also an honorable mention for IRCA All-America.
Softball
Emma Nedley has etched her name as part of the Quakers’ best.
Nedley came in swinging as a freshman. Nedley, who plays outfield, led the team in home runs (5), hits (49), runs scored (26), and stolen bases (11). In the Ivy League, she led the conference's freshmen with her .435 batting average in Ancient Eight play. Her rookie season stats earned her numerous honors: unanimous first team All-Ivy, Ivy League Rookie of the Year, and NCFA’s Freshman of the Year Top-25 list.
She didn’t hit a sophomore slump, either. Nedley led the Ivy League in RBIs (13), and led the Quakers in multiple-RBI games (3) before COVID-19 threw a wrench in her plans. Still, COVID-19 didn’t slow her down in her junior season, where she led the team in hits (11), runs (6), home runs (3), RBIs (7), and total bases (22).
As a senior, she notched 18 runs, 28 hits, 15 RBIs, and four homers, one of which came in her final career game against Yale on April 30.
Men's Tennis
Jason Hildebrandt, who hails from Germany, has always been reliable for the Quakers.
As a freshman, he earned 13 wins as a singles player and went 8-5 in doubles. Then, Hildebrandt played more doubles matches starting in the 2019-20 season. He went 4-0 in doubles to start his fall campaign, but he was still a solid singles player. He worked his way into the main draw of the ITA Northeast Regional that year and advanced to the Round of 16. As a junior, he saw similar success in his singles and doubles matches. In fact, he only lost one doubles match his junior year.
Women's Tennis
Yulia Bryzgalova is the type of player that succeeds in singles and doubles. It was evident from even her first season. Her singles record of 28-3 and doubles record of 23-5 are why she was named first team All-Ivy in singles and second team All-Ivy in doubles. She lost only one match in Ivy League play. It wasn’t any surprise, then, that she was named unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year — only the fourth Penn player to do so in the same season.
Bryzgalova’s stock as a player grew tremendously since then. In her singles career, she rose to No. 10 nationally, the best ever in Penn history; she finished the year as No. 13. On the doubles end, her and her partner Marija Curnic finished ranked No. 39 and became ITA Northeast Regional champions. The pair went on to reach the main draw of the Saint Francis tournament.
Women's Track & Field
Skyla Wilson’s resume for track and field is something most Quakers can only dream of. She holds overall Penn records for five events: indoor 60m hurdles (8.35), indoor 4x400m relay (3:35.19), outdoor 400m hurdles (58.26), outdoor 4x400m relay (3:32.12), and outdoor 100m hurdles (13.45). She also has second-best records for three events: indoor 400m (54.38), indoor 4x400m relay (3:38.29), and outdoor 4x400m relay (3:35.43). Besides those particular records, she is in the top 10 for six other Penn all-time marks.
Just this season, Wilson set the program record for the 100m hurdles twice. At first, she clocked in a time of 13.51s, and then at the Virginia Challenge, she beat it again with a time of 13.45s.
Men's Track & Field
Marc Minichello does not run a single meter for the Quakers, but his skill in the javelin throw is something the Quakers won’t forget for a long time. With a personal best of 79.24 meters, Minichello is one of the best to have ever done it for the Red and Blue.
He won the Ivy League Outdoor Heptagonal Championships in the javelin in 2019. Minichello then went on to qualify for the NCAA Championships that same year, where he finished in 17th. He also won the USATF U20 Championships with a 77.15m throw. His success that season is why he got first team All-Ivy and honorable mention All-America honors. While Minichello did not compete in 2021, he did qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, where he finished fourth on a best throw of 76.73m.
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