Five Princeton student-athletes have been named finalists for the 2025 William Winston Roper Trophy which is awarded annually to a Princeton senior man of high scholastic rank and outstanding qualities of sportsmanship and general proficiency in athletics. Presented by Mrs. William W. Roper and the Class of 1902.

The William Winston Roper Trophy will be presented at the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet on Thursday, May 22nd starting at 5:00 p.m. ET. For more information on the 2025 banquet, click here.

Meet the 2025 finalists!

Nicholas Lawson | Men’s Fencing

Nicholas Lawson, a physics major from New York, N.Y., bookended his Tiger career not just with bids to the NCAA Championships, but with All-American honors. As a rookie in 2022, he won 16 of 23 pool bouts at the NCAAs to qualify for the top-four individual semifinals, and once there, he defeated Penn’s Emon Deroian 15-11 to make the NCAA final. Lawson returned to the NCAA Championships in 2025, winning 12 pool bouts to finish ninth and earn his second All-American honor.

Along with the NCAA accomplishments, Lawson was a two-time U.S.F.C.A. first-team all-region honoree in 2024 and 2025, and he earned first-team All-Ivy recognition in 2025 while helping Princeton to its second straight Ivy League title. Lawson was an academic honoree as well, being included as a U.S.F.C.A. All-Academic Scholar of Distinction in 2023 and selected as the team’s Academic All-Ivy honoree in 2025.

 

Coulter Mackesy | Men’s Lacrosse

Coulter Mackesy is the all-time leader in goals scored in a career for the Princeton men’s lacrosse team, breaking a program mark that stood for 27 years. He is also one of three players in program history with at least 100 career goals and 80 career assists, and holds the Princeton single-season record for goals with 55, which he accomplished as a sophomore. Mackesy, a sociology major from Bronxville, N.Y., is second among all active Division I players in career goals and career points and his 238 career points rank third in program history.

 

A two-time unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection, Mackesy is also a 2025 Tewaaraton Award finalist, a 2025 first-team All-American by USA Lacrosse Magazine and a three-time Tewaaraton top 25 nominee. A member of the 2024 Ivy League all-tournament team, Mackesy led the Tigers to two Ivy League Tournament titles during his career as well as four consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. His senior campaign has seen the Tigers ranked top-3 nationally, and a win this Saturday would mark Markesy’s second trip to Final Four Weekend. In addition he was also the fourth overall selection in the recent Premier Lacrosse League draft.

Roko Pozaric | Men’s Water Polo

Roko Pozaric is a four time All-American and three time conference player of the year for Princeton men’s water polo. 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. An economics major from Zagreb Croatia, Pozaric made an immediate impact when he arrived at Princeton, being named the Northeast Water Polo Conference Rookie of the Year and Rookie of the Tournament on his way to his first All-American honors. 

 

In 2023, Pozaric had a career year 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. He has helped transform the program into a national contender, winning the conference title four years in a row, making it to the Final Four in 2023 behind 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, 14-time conference player of the week and won an astonishing 90% of his sprints over his four years with the Tigers.  

 

Henry Wedbush | Men’s Volleyball

Henry Wedbush is the heart and soul of the Princeton men’s volleyball program. He was named the 2025 EIVA Player of the Year, becoming just the second player in program history to earn the award. Wedbush led the Tigers through an incredible season, hallmarked by an EIVA Regular Season Championship. Among the nation’s best, he was named a 2025 All-America Honorable Mention. An economics major from Manhattan Beach, Calif., Wedbush finished his career with 2867 assists, averaging 8.77 a set. His senior season, Wedbush averaged 9.51 assists per set to put him at 24th in the nation. During the EIVA semifinals, Wedbush made a career-high 52 assists to help the Tigers advance to their third EIVA final during his four years. 

 

In 2022, first-year Wedbush was part of the Princeton squad that defeated Penn State to win the EIVA championship. This year as a senior,  Wedbush guided the team as the Tigers defeated Penn State on the road to clinch the EIVA regular season title. In addition to being named Player of the Year, Wedbush was also named to the First Team All-EIVA for the second-consecutive year, while being named to the Second Team his sophomore year. As a setter, Wedbush’s role on the court involves setting others up for success – a responsibility he excelled in with his leadership both on and off the court. 

 

Harrison Witt | Men’s Track and Field

A three-time Ivy Champion, Harrison Witt has been a leader and an exceptional competitor for Princeton men’s track and field. In addition to his individual titles in the 1000, which he earned in 2022 and 2025, and the 1500, won this outdoor season, Witt is also a three-time Second Team All-Ivy honoree. Witt has rewritten the Princeton record books, currently holding the records individually for the 1000m, the mile, and the 1500m. He also anchored the 2025 distance medley relay squad that set a new Ivy record in the event. Showcasing his breadth of talent, Witt is on the leaderboard for the indoor and outdoor 800ms and the 4×800 relay. Witt is also a cross country Second Team All-Ivy honoree where he helped lead the Tigers to the 2024 Cross Country Championship. 

 

Witt, an operations research and financial engineering major from Highlands Ranch, Colo., has raised the standard of success for Princeton at both the conference and national level. A two-time NCAA competitor, Witt helped the Tigers take fourth place in the DMR at the 2022 NCAA Championships, earning himself All-America honors. This indoor season, Witt finished in the top-10 in the mile at the NCAA championships, putting him in the top 20 of NCAA Division I performances all-time in the event. After working to come back from injury during his junior Fall, Witt has continuously worked to push his performance to new heights while leading the Tigers to collective championship success, including 11 total Heps team titles and three Triple Crowns during his career.  

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Sophomore Ashley Sheldon is heading back to the national championships for the second straight year, as she was selected to compete in the high jump at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the NCAA announced on Friday evening.
 
Sheldon is one of 22 student-athletes to qualify for the national championship in the high jump, making her only the third Union women’s outdoor track and field athlete to be selected for the national meet. Noemie Bechu ’17 twice qualified for the 400-meter dash during her sophomore and junior seasons in 2015-16, while Janice Glidden ’85 made nationals in the heptathlon back in 1982.

Sheldon qualified for the meet with a program record-matching leap of 1.67 meters (5’5.75″) at the Liberty League Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 3, winning her second conference title (and first outdoors) in two years. Her leap tied her for the 20th-best height in Division III this year, and she will be seeded in a tie for 19th at nationals. Allie Wildsmith of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy has the country’s best leap so far this outdoor season, clearing 1.78 meters (5’10”) in mid-April.

“We’re so proud of all the hard work Ashley put in this year to get to this point,” said head cross country and track & field coach Laura Nardelli. “She has battled through an ankle injury since her soccer season, and we finally decided to give her some time off over Spring Break to get her closer to full strength for the outdoor season. She’s so much stronger and more confident now, and just in the last couple of weeks has shown that she’s ready to hit some big marks.”

In two years, Sheldon already owns the school record in the indoor and outdoor high jump as well as the outdoor 100-meter hurdles, the indoor 60-meter hurdles and the indoor triple jump. The three-season student-athlete also is a two-year starter on defense for the women’s soccer team during the fall as well.

The 2025 NCAA Division III outdoor track and field championships run from Thursday, May 22 to Saturday, May 24 at the SPIRE Institute’s Outdoor Track & Field facility in Geneva, Ohio. Sheldon will compete on Friday’s second day of competition, with the women’s high jump set to begin at 11:30 a.m.  

 

GENEVA, Ohio – Four members of the St. Olaf College men’s and women’s track and field teams qualified for next week’s 2025 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, as announced on Friday evening.

Junior Isabel Wyatt and senior Alison Bode will represent the women’s team, while juniors Ignatius Fitzgerald and Kevin Turlington will compete for the men’s team at the national meet. The event will be held at the SPIRE Institute Thursday through Saturday, May 22-24.

Wyatt will compete in her first NCAA Outdoor Championships as the No. 16 seed in the 800-meter run (2:09.44) after earning Second Team All-America honors in the event with a ninth-place finish indoors this year. The junior will run in the prelims at 3:15 CT on Friday. The finals will be held at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday.

Bode will run in the 10,000-meter run at the national meet for the third season in a row after earning the No. 15 seed (35:35.82). The senior is a two-time All-American in the event after finishing ninth last year and eighth as a sophomore. The 10,000-meter run will be contested at 8:15 CT on Thursday.

A first-time national qualifier in track and field, Fitzgerald is the No. 7 seed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (8:52.30). The junior will race in the prelims on Thursday at 6:10 p.m. CT hoping to earn a spot in the finals the next day at 3:40 p.m. CT.

Turlington is the No. 21 seed in the 5,000-meter run (14:11.84) in his first outdoor national meet after claiming Second Team All-America honors with an 11th-place national finish indoors earlier this year. The event will be contested at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the second-to-last event of the championships.

 

A Crystal Lake South High School dean, who is also a Prairie Ridge High School volleyball coach, was arrested for driving under the influence and causing an injury crash while she had two children in the car.

The Crystal Lake Police Department and Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department responded around 9:15 p.m. last Friday to the intersection of Route 31 and Three Oaks Road for a vehicle crash with injuries.

Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Thomas Kotlowski said the investigation showed the at-fault driver in the crash was Hilary Agnello, 43, of Crystal Lake.

Agnello was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol at the time and arrested by officers, Kotlowski said.

Kotlowski said at least two people were transported by ambulance from the crash with minor injuries.

Agnello had two juveniles in the vehicle with her, Kotlowski added.

Agnello was charged with driving under the influence, two counts of child endangerment, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash.

A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Circuit Court said the two children in Agnello’s car were ages 12 and 14.

An officer noted in a report that Agnello’s speech was thick-tongued and she had an odor of alcoholic beverage emitting from her breathing and field sobriety testing showed further signs of impairment.

The report said Agnello refused to submit to or failed to complete testing, resulting in a minimum 12-month suspension of her driving privileges.

Kotlowski said Agnello refused to submit to blood alcohol testing and a search warrant was obtained for blood samples, which will be sent to the lab for analysis.

Agnell is one of the deans at Crystal Lake South High School in District 155. She is also the girl’s volleyball head coach at Prairie Ridge High School in Prairie Grove, which is also in District 155.

Agnello was released from custody following her arrest and is scheduled to appear for her first court hearing in the case on June 10.

Court records show Agnell has a prior driving under the influence violation from 2017 and also has numerous traffic violations in McHenry County, including one where she fled the scene of a crash involving a parked vehicle last year.