Elias Wins Ivy Player Of the Year--Again

Like the man himself, you had a feeling this one was coming.

Princeton running back Keith Elias won the Ivy League's Player of the Year award for the second straight year after he shared it in 1992 with Dartmouth quarterback Jay Fiedler.

Senior cornerback Jae Ellis--who led the Ivy League in interceptions, with five--was the sole Harvard representative on the All-Ivy first team, but seniors tight end Frank Lilly and offensive tackle Jason Slavik were named to the second team.

Seniors guard Kevin Fagan, quarterback Mike Giardi, nose tackle Joe Hiffa, linebacker Joe McClellan and cornerback Chris Andre along with junior center Toby Brundage all made honorable mention.

Pennsylvania wide receiver Miles Macik won Rookie of the Year honors.

In addition, at the Harvard football team's end-of-season banquet Monday, junior Ed Kinney was named the 121st captain of the team and Giardi took home the team's MVP trophy for the second time in three years--the first player ever to do so.

Harvard's nine all-league mentions beat only Yale (7) and Columbia (6). Dartmouth and Pennsylvania topped the Ancient Eight with 14 honors apiece.

But the post-season ink belongs to Elias, one of the finest runners to pass through the Ivy League.

Elias, who set 21 school records and three NCAA Division I-AA marks, is the first Princeton player to win the award since running back Judd Garrett won it in 1989, a year after Tiger quarterback Jason Garrett won it.

The award is given to the player who displays outstanding qualities of leadership, competitive spirit, contribution to the team and accomplishments off the field.

Elias' Division I-AA marks were for career games of rushing for more than 200 yards (7), most rushing yards gained per game in a three-year career (140.3) and most rushing touchdowns per game in a career (49 in 30 games or a 1.63 average).

Elias finished his career as the all-time leader at Princeton in rushing (4,206 yards), rushing touchdowns (49), average yards per game (140.3), all-purpose yards (4,739), touchdowns (52) and points scored (320). He set single-season records this past year in rushing yards (1,731), rushing touchdowns (19), average yards per game (173.1), all-purpose yards (1,939), touchdowns (21) and points scored (130).

Princeton had a 19-2 mark from 1991-93 in games in which Elias rushed for more than 100 yards.