Tartans Celebrate 2025-26 Year at Annual Banquet
The Carnegie Mellon University Department of Athletics hosted its annual awards banquet on Wednesday, April 29 to celebrate the year and the accomplishments of the senior student-athletes. The event was hosted in Simmons Auditorium in the Tepper Quad.
Tartans Celebrate 2025-26 Year at Annual Banquet
The Carnegie Mellon University Department of Athletics hosted its annual awards banquet on Wednesday, April 29 to celebrate the year and the accomplishments of the senior student-athletes. The event was hosted in Simmons Auditorium in the Tepper Quad.
The program began with a procession of senior athletes who were given their graduation sashes and posed together at the front of the room for a standing ovation from the crowd of coaches, athletics administrators, heads of academic departments, and other special guests.
Director of Athletics Josh Centor praised the seniors for their responsiveness to adversity and congratulated them on their numerous accomplishments throughout their four years in a Carnegie Mellon uniform.
Following Centor’s remarks, a select number of seniors were mentioned for their completion of the Tartan Leaders of Tomorrow program. A program in which Carnegie Mellon Student-Athletes evolve as leaders through engaging speakers, thoughtful discussion, campus outreach, engagement, and proactive mentorship.
Two student speakers were invited to share their thoughts with their graduating class as football player Joey McGinnis IV and volleyball player Kia Herchenroether engaged the crowd with memories of their student-athlete experiences.
The Tartans Faculty Athletics Representative, Rebecca Nugent handed out the Dr. William Brown Academic Athletic Achievement Awards. The award was renamed in honor of the Tartans’ first-ever NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative, William Brown, following his passing in 2007 and goes to a men’s sports and women’s sports four-year participant who has earned the highest grade-point average while participating in intercollegiate athletics.
Like in many years past, this year’s graduating class has more than two earning the award. There were four men’s sports recipients that had a 4.0 grade point average as the award winners were Buckley DeJardin (basketball), Bennett Grace (football), Akshay Joshi (tennis) and David Zoota (swimming and diving). The women had two sports recipients with each holding a 3.91 grade point average. The women award winners were Ava Arias and Ava Black of basketball.
Dean of Students Gina Casalegno presented the Michael C. Murphy Citizenship Award to Akshay Joshi. The award is given to a senior student-athlete that has demonstrated character, sportsmanship, service and impact on the university during his or her time at Carnegie Mellon.
Joshi, who plans to go to graduate school in the fall at Stanford University where he will pursue a masters in Aeronautics and Astronautics, was selected as a team captain as a sophomore.
Joshi’s leadership is defined by service. Head men’s tennis coach Mike Belmonte coach shared that “Akshay’s leadership is defined not by authority, but by service—consistently putting the needs of the team ahead of personal recognition.”
Beyond tennis, Joshi has made a meaningful impact across the department and university. He has served as a representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, helping to advocate for his peers and contribute to community initiatives.
Academically, Akshay’s accomplishments are exceptional. He has been recognized as an ITA Scholar-Athlete, a UAA All-Academic honoree, and a recipient of the Tartan Award for excellence in both academics and athletics. His impact extends beyond the classroom as well. Through his work with Carnegie Mellon Racing and internships with SpaceX, Joshi has demonstrated a rare combination of intellectual curiosity, technical skill, and real-world impact.
Prior to the last two awards of the event, Senior Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator, Kim Kelly announced each team’s annual Tartan Awards. The awards were presented separately at team functions and are based on program-specific criteria developed by each head coach. Below is a list of the Tartan Award winners in each sport:
The final awards of the evening then were presented to the outstanding senior athletes. Earning the award for men’s sports was golf athlete David Zhang and for women’s sports was Savannah Xu of swimming and diving.
Zhang was a key member of our NCAA Championship team in 2023 and helped lead the Tartans to a national runner-up finish in 2024. He is a GCAA All-American Scholar, a two-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-American, a two-time All-American, a three-time All-Region selection and three-time First Team All-UAA honoree. He was also named the UAA Rookie of the Year in 2023. He holds the school record for the lowest single round and owns the second-lowest four-round score in program history. At the 2024 NCAA Championships, he placed fifth individually, the third-highest finish in program history.
Xu is a three-time All-American in the 200-yard backstroke and has also earned All-America honors in the 100-yard backstroke. This season, she was the national runner-up in the 200-yard backstroke. Xu has also earned three All-America honors as part or relays and is part of three school-record-setting relay teams. Individually, Xu holds two school records, as well as capturing four UAA Championships and earning four All-UAA honors throughout her career.
Tartan Award winners in each sport:
Buckley DeJardin of Men’s Basketball (Thomas B. Craig (E’53) Tartan Award)
Liv LaFond of Women’s Basketball (John N. Wiernicki Tartan Award)
Ryan Podnar of Men’s Cross Country
Chloe Bonson of Women’s Cross Country (Kelly Chin de Csepel (TPR’02) Tartan Award)
Lucas Hazard of Football; Defense (Walter H. and Antoinette V. Haupt Tartan Award)
Joey McGinnis IV of Football; Offense (Thomas B. Craig (E’53) Tartan Award)
David Zhang of Men’s Golf (Thomas B. Craig (E’53) Tartan Award)
Nikita Jadhav of Women’s Golf (Thomas B. Craig (E’53) and LaVerne Craig Tartan Award)
Matt Cadena of Men’s Soccer (W. Young Kang (E’92) Tartan Award)
Vivian Wang of Women’s Soccer (Jared L. (H’14) and Maureen B. Cohon Tartan Award)
Michelle Pacheco of Softball (The Pierce Family Tartan Award)
Todd Achuff of Men’s Swimming & Diving (Scott (TPR’88) and Lara Morrison Tartan Award)
Nia Bowrin of Women’s Swimming & Diving (Joseph (E’48) and Myrna Stein Tartan Award)
Ted Gershon of Men’s Tennis (Michael H. Ference (DC’91, TPR’92) Tartan Award)
Divya Venkatarama of Women’s Tennis (Ellie (Wiseman) Ference (E’64) and Thomas P. Ference (E’64, TPR’66, ‘67) Tartan Award)
Morgan Johnson of Men’s Track & Field; Field Events (Bram Miller (CIT’21, ’23) Tartan Award)
Iniyaa Mohanraj of Women’s Track & Field; Field Events
Luke Freimanis of Men’s Track & Field; Running Events (Gary L. Meckley Tartan Award)
Margaret Ann Healy of Women’s Track & Field; Running Events (Dario Donatelli (TPR’81) Tartan Award)
Julianna McFarland of Volleyball (Robert S. (DC’93) & Ann Feng Simon (TPR’93) Tartan Award)