HANOVER, N.H. — On Tuesday night inside Thompson Arena, the Dartmouth College Department of Athletics and Recreation hosted its annual Celebration of Excellence.

Luke Carroll (baseball) and Kellie Sutton (women’s soccer) served as masters of ceremony for the event.

KENNETH ARCHIBALD PRIZE

The Kenneth Archibald Prize is awarded to a member of the graduating class, who has been four years in attendance, and who in the judgment of the Athletic Council has been the best all-around athlete with regard being had to moral worth and high standing in scholarship.

Winners: Billy Bender – Men’s Heavyweight Rowing and Jasmine Drolet – Women’s Nordic Skiing

Bender has been a valuable member of the Big Green since coming to Dartmouth. He competed for the United States in the summer of 2024 at the Paris games. Bender has earned First Team All-America honors in 2022 and 2023. This season, Bender has sat in the stroke seat while leading the varsity eight to an unbeaten dual season while also being ranked as high as third in the county.

Drolet raced in three EISA Carnivals this season: the Bates Carnival, St. Lawrence Carnival, and UNH Carnival. She finished in the top ten in both races at St. Lawrence and UNH. Drolet won two races, both 7.5k distances, placing first in the UNH Freestyle race and the St. Lawrence classical race. At the national championship, Drolet finished third in the 7.5K classic race, earning First-Team All-America status. She finished 13th overall in the 20K freestyle.

ALFRED E. WATSON TROPHY

The Alfred E. Watson Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding Dartmouth athlete on a men’s team during the year.  Nominations for the Watson Trophy are submitted by the coaches of the men’s varsity teams and voted on by the head coaches of the men’s teams.

Winner: John Steel Hagenbuch – Men’s Nordic Skiing

Hagenbuch competed in five of the six EISA Carnivals this season. He finished on the podium in all ten races, including winning eight races across both classic and freestyle disciplines and various distances. At the end of the EISA season, Hagenbuch was named the Classic Leader, earning the most points in classic races throughout the season. He was also named a First Team All-American twice at the 2025 National Championship. Hagenbuch finished first in the 7.5K classic race, the second straight year he has won an individual national championship. He also finished second in the 20K freestyle race.

CLASS OF 1976 AWARD

The Class of 1976 Award is given to the most outstanding athlete from a women’s team during the year. The winner is determined by the head coaches of the women’s varsity teams and the Dean of Students.

Winner: Cassidy Exner – Equestrian

Exner was the most consistent rider for the Big Green in 2024-25 as she notched eight regular season wins while also winning three out of four matchups at the National Championship. Following the season, the sophomore was named Second Team All-American for fences. She is currently the program leader for career wins while also being tied for the most postseason wins. During the season, Exner had a +16 average score differential in fences, which was the best of the team.

CLASS OF 1948 SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARDS

The Class of 1948 Scholar-Athlete Award is given annually to one member of a men’s team and one member of a women’s team in the junior class who have combined outstanding performance in athletics and significant achievement in academics, as nominated by the head coaches of the varsity sports and selected by the Athletics Director.

Winners: Cooper Flinton – Men’s Hockey and Maya Kendall – Women’s Lacrosse

Flinton skated in 32 games for the Big Green while scoring 11 goals and adding 13 assists. Four of his goals came on the power play; he also scored a pair of shorthanded goals as he was a valuable member of the Dartmouth penalty kill. He was named to the All-Ivy Second Team this season. In his Dartmouth career, he skated in 89 games while scoring 32 goals and adding 32 assists. Following the season, the Auburn, N.H. native signed an NHL Entry Level Contact with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Kendall was dominant on draw controls this season as she ranked second in the country in draw controls per game. She also set an Ivy League single game record with 22 in a game while also setting the Ivy League season record with 188 draw controls. Following the season, Kendall was named All-Ivy First Team and was Dartmouth’s first All-American since 2019. The junior is currently second in program history in career draw controls with 293.

CLASS OF 1950 AWARD

The Class of 1950 Award is presented annually to the varsity student-athlete who has demonstrated the most extraordinary commitment to community service. Nominations are submitted by the head coaches and captains of varsity sports, and the winner is selected by the Dean of the College, the Director of Athletics, and the Dean of the Tucker Foundation.

Winner: Micah Green – Football

Green was named a member of the All-State Good Works Team, an initiative to recognize and honor student-athletes who demonstrate levels of volunteerism and civic engagement that are above and beyond their success and achievements in the classroom and competition. Green currently serves as the co-president of the Dartmouth Black Student Athlete Alliance (DBSAA), after previously holding the position of professional development chair. Green has attended the National Black Student Athlete Summit in Los Angeles for the past two years, where he served as a keynote speaker to over 1,200 attendees. Green has served as the secretary for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., coordinating philanthropic events with other Greek organizations and collaborating with Dartmouth Civics to promote local voting and voter knowledge. On the field, Green was an honorable mention All-Ivy honoree, leading the Big Green in tackles (76) as a senior.

AGNES B. KURTZ AWARD

Aggie Kurtz was the first woman appointed to the athletic staff when co-education arrived at Dartmouth in 1972. She coached field hockey, squash and lacrosse, and also taught physical education classes.  She was later appointed assistant athletic director. The award named in her honor is nominated and voted on by the captains of the women’s teams and given to that person who best combines proficiency in athletics with dedication to the furthering of women’s sports.

Winner: Lauren Messier – Women’s Hockey

Captain Lauren Messier played in all 29 games for the Big Green. She scored eight goals and nine assists, both career highs, to lead the team in both categories. Messier had a hand in all three goals vs. the Princeton Tigers, scoring a goal and adding two assists. In the middle of the season, she rode a three-game scoring streak, scoring the game winning goal and adding two assists in an overtime win over Harvard, the lone goal in a tie with the Crimson, and an assist at St. Anselm, helping Dartmouth to a seven-game undefeated streak. She also scored the game winning goal in a shutout win over No. 7 St. Lawrence, the Big Green’s first win over a ranked opponent since 2022

TIMOTHY WRIGHT ELLIS 1955 MEMORIAL AWARD

The Timothy Wright Ellis 1955 Memorial Award is nominated and voted on by the captains of the men’s teams. It is given to a member of a men’s team showing the extra-curricular and scholastic drive, spirit, loyalty and amiability which made Tim such a well-known part of this community.

Winners: Wyatt Ellison – Men’s Lightweight Rowing and Conor Shaheen – Men’s Heavyweight Rowing

Ellison was extremely loyal and committed to the team when the team’s roster was capped. He volunteered his roster spot to allow younger athletes to compete, continuing to train with the team as a “team manager” without being able to compete. After the team’s roster cap was raised his senior year, he continued his peer leadership and emerged as a stellar athlete. Beyond the team, Ellison is an extraordinary computer engineering student and early-induction member of Pi Beta Kappa and Vice President of Tau Beta Pi (the Engineering Honor Society). This winter, Ellison single-handedly created a community “Lapapalooza” backcountry skiing event, supporting two dozen students attempting to maximize their skiing vertical in 24 hours.

Shaheen has incredible drive in both academics and athletics, which is only matched by his humility.  Despite being one of the best coxswains in the country, Shaheen has swallowed his pride and coxed the second varsity boat for all four years of his career at Dartmouth without a single complaint, leading it to great success. That includes a third-place finish nationally last season. He is always at the boathouse with a smile to lift up his teammates.

MOMENT OF EXCELLENCE

The Moment of Excellence, the newest addition to the Celebration of Excellence, recognizes top plays, performances, and acts of character over the past year. The winner is determined through live polls on social media, so friends, family, fans, student-athletes, and coaches all have the opportunity to cast their votes for which moment stood out amongst all others.

Jada Jones won a pair of Ivy League titles in 2025 as she won the 200 meter at the Ivy League Indoor Track & Field Championship with a time of 23.77 after being fourth after preliminaries. Jones notched her second Ivy title at the Outdoor Championships with a time of 23.55 in the final after placing first in preliminaries.

In making the relatively recent move to Division I athletics across the board, officials at the University of St. Thomas made it clear that they were looking to forge their own path among nationally-prominent Catholic schools, and were not trying to emulate what Notre Dame, Villanova, Boston College or others have done.

Still, when the Tommies christen Lee & Penny Anderson Arena in October, their first guests on the opposite bench for the facility’s inaugural hockey games have shown much about the right way a faith-based school can excel at top-level college athletics.

On Friday, Oct. 24, the Tommies will open their new home base with men’s and women’s hockey games versus Providence College, which has an established reputation as one of the top Catholic College hockey programs in the nation. Construction on the new on-campus arena, which will seat upwards of 4,000 for hockey and 5,000 for basketball, began in January 2024 and is on schedule for completion in time for the 2025-26 season opener for the Tommies.

“This is a monumental day for the University of St. Thomas and Tommie athletics, and we are excited to welcome one of college hockey’s well-established programs in Providence College to open the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena,” said St. Thomas athletic director Phil Esten, in a statement released by the school. “This opening series is a culmination of four years of hard work by many and a seminal moment as we continue our Division I journey.”

It will be the first meetings between the Tommies and Friars, who are based in Rhode Island’s largest city. St. Thomas men’s hockey coach Rico Blasi spent the 2020-21 season as an associate athletics director for the Providence men’s and women’s hockey programs prior to being hired to run the Tommies men’s program.

Blasi and Friars men’s coach Nate Leaman had been working to get games between the two schools on their future schedules, and are happy for the opportunity to open the new arena.

“When you look at the institutions that are like-minded and similar across the country, Providence certainly comes to mind,” Blasi said. “Nate and his staff have done a great job in finding their niche in a very tough conference with the likes of BC and BU, no different than what we have to do — find our niche and recruit the players that are St. Thomas kind of players, to our identity and our culture.”

Blasi also praised the Andersons for their gift of $75 million which, along with other generous donations, made the state-of-the art arena a reality.

While neither team could compete in the NCAA tournament per the agreement they made to transition directly from D-III to D-I athletics, both the Tommie men’s and women’s programs had successful runs last season. Blasi’s team went 15-3-1 in the second half of the season and advanced to the CCHA tournament’s title game for the first time. The women’s team rebounded after a slow start and a November coaching change to pull off an unexpected sweep of nationally-ranked Minnesota Duluth in the second half of the season as well.

The NCAA has agreed to take a year off the Tommies’ probationary period for full Division I membership, and the school anticipates it “will have completed all of the required steps for the NCAA to review by this summer,” Esten said. If approved, St. Thomas will be a full Division I member starting this fall.

The Providence men won their first NCAA title in 2015 and have made six trips to the national tournament in the past decade, including in March when the Friars received an at-large invite. In 2024-25 the Providence women finished 20-12-3 overall and finished third in Hockey East.

Season tickets for men’s and women’s hockey at St. Thomas are currently available through the school’s athletic department. Season ticket packages include the grand opening for the new arena.