Women’s Track Star Scatchard, Water Polo’s Pozaric Receive Princeton’s Top Senior Athletic Awards

AWARDS SHOW: Princeton University women’s track and cross country star Mena Scatchard, left, is all smiles as she receives the C. Otto von Kienbusch Award from Princeton Director of Athletics John Mack last Thursday evening at the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet. The award is given annually to a Princeton senior woman of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportswoman. During her Tiger career, Scatchard was eight-time Ivy League champion and a 2025 NCAA indoor runner-up in the mile. (Photo provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

By Bill Alden

One is a petite, wiry runner from England while the other is a chiseled 6’4 bruiser from Croatia who dominates in the pool.

Coming to Princeton from Europe in 2021, the two athletes, Mena Scatchard and Roko Pozaric, produced stellar college careers. Scatchard established herself as one of the most accomplished distance runners in the 47-year history of Princeton women’s track and field. Pozaric, for his part, ended his Tiger men’s water polo career with the most goals in program history.

Last Thursday evening, Scatchard and Pozaric were honored as the top Princeton senior athletes at the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet. Scatchard received the C. Otto von Kienbusch Award given annually to a Princeton senior woman of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportswoman. Pozaric won the William Winston Roper Trophy awarded annually to a Princeton senior man of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportsman.

Scatchard displayed her quality time and time again as an eight-time Ivy League champion. A 2025 NCAA indoor runner-up in the mile, Scatchard is just the second Tiger woman to place that high at nationals – and she did it while climbing from 10th to second with the fastest final two laps in the entire field.

At the conference level, Scatchard won individual Ivy titles in four events, while winning four 4×800 relay titles. She set four facility records during her championship performances.

Additionally, Scatchard, a native of North Yorkshire, U.K., is a nine-time first team and three-time second team All-Ivy honoree.  Scatchard has rewritten the Princeton record books during her four years. She holds seven program records, including the 800 meters, 1,500, 5,000, 3,000, mile, and as a part of 4×800 and distance medley relays. She also ranks second all-time in the Princeton record books in three other events, while making the all-time top-10 in four more. Scatchard’s performances have landed her in the Ivy League all-time top-10, all-meets in seven events.
A rare middle distance runner who also excels on the cross country course, Scatchard is a two-time

All-Ivy performer and finished second overall last fall to lead the Tigers to their first cross country Heps title in nine years. Scatchard’s individual achievements and leadership have guided Princeton women’s cross country and women’s track and field to new heights this year, helping the program complete its first Triple Crown (Ivy cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track titles) since 2011 and third all-time — two milestones that will be cemented and cherished in the history of the program.

MAKING A SPLASH: Princeton University men’s water polo player Roko Pozaric unloads the ball in action this season. Pozaric, who tallied a program-record 281 goals in his Tiger career, was named last Thursday as the recipient of the William Winston Roper Trophy awarded annually to a Princeton senior man of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportsman.  (Photo by Shelley M. Szwast, provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

Pozaric made history of his own for the Tiger men’s water polo team as a four-time All-American and three time conference Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Player of the Year. He is Princeton’s all-time leading goal scorer with 281 tallies while also ranking second all-time in assists, ranking Pozaric as arguably the best player in program history. Pozaric who hails from Zagreb Croatia, made an immediate impact when he arrived at Princeton, being named the NWPC Rookie of the Year and Rookie of the NWPC Tournament on his way to his first All-American honors.

In 2023, Pozaric had a career year with 76 goals and 47 assists and received recognition as the NWPC Tournament MVP and was named a Cutino Award finalist, an award presented annually by the Olympic Club to honor the nation’s most outstanding Division I male and female water polo athletes.

During his carer, Pozaric has helped transform the program into a national contender as the Tigers have won the conference title four years in a row, making it to the NCAA Final Four in 2023 and earning a program-record 28 wins, finishing ranked fifth in the country the last two seasons and beating two of the water polo “big four,” in Cal and Stanford, during his career. Pozaric is a four-time first-team All-NWPC performer and a 14-time conference Player of the Week.