Class of 2026 student-athletes celebrated as ‘stars that shine brightly’

For the last four years, Katie Krupa has demonstrated her mastery of the basketball court by sinking three-pointers and grabbing rebounds. Normally cool on the court, the senior was awestruck by the final spectacle of her Harvard athletic career — a hockey arena full of 850 cheering fans and fellow athletes.

She was among more than 200 graduating athletes and a dozen awardees honored Wednesday evening at the 60th annual Senior Letterwinners’ Dinner, hosted this year at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

As Krupa climbed to the podium to accept the Arthur L. Boland Award for a senior athlete who plans to study medicine, she gazed over the crowd covering the arena floor.

“This stage is much more intimidating than a basketball court,” Krupa said. “Wow.”

The banquet — held annually on the eve of Commencement — acts as a final send-off for student-athletes with thunderous applause and raucous demonstrations of team spirit. The dinner celebrated remarkable achievements, including Ivy League champions, national champions, inspired leadership, gritty perseverance, and comebacks from devastating injuries.

“You are stars that shine brightly among stars,” Erin McDermott, the John D. Nichols ’53 Family Director of Athletics, told the award nominees and winners. “We celebrate excellence … However, it’s not all about the awards and championships. It’s primarily about the people — your teammates, your coaches, family, and friends, and the moments and memories that you are leaving us with, but that will never leave you.”

Harvard fields 42 intercollegiate varsity sports teams, the most of any NCAA Division I university in the United States. About one in six undergraduates is a student-athlete. This year, the ceremony honored 226 seniors, with 150 in attendance (many were on the road for competitions).

“Your resilience as an athlete will be with you forever,” said McDermott, whose formal attire included a pair of basketball shoes with images of iconic Harvard athletic venues handcrafted by senior Gabby Anderson. “You might even find it becomes your superpower when things are hard.”

The senior athletes demonstrated some superpowers well before the banquet. Over the last four years, the Class of 2026 helped Crimson teams win national championships in fencing, women’s rugby, coed sailing, women’s squash, and men’s squash. There were three individual national champions (Saran Nghiem in women’s squash and Sophia Montgomery twice in women’s sailing), 43 All-Americans, and eight Academic All Americans. During this time, 21 teams won conference championships, many doing so in multiple years.

The Susan and Cory ’90 Thabit Family Senior Letterwinners’ Dinner also featured the presentation of awards to individual seniors for athletic achievements or other contributions.

Eva Rankin won the Mary G. Paget Prize, which honors the senior who has contributed the most to women’s athletics. “There were no women’s teams when my grandmother was in high school,” said Rankin, also a Fulbright Scholar. “Now she watches me and my best friends on ESPN.”

Rankin joined women’s rugby as a walk-on with no prior experience in the sport. Two years ago, she and her teammates were offended when bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book chapter titled “The Mysterious Case of the Harvard Women’s Rugby Team” and questioned the very existence of the squad. The team delivered its rebuttal on the field by winning the national championship last fall, its third in a row.

“This award is not for me,” Rankin told the audience. “It is for every woman who stood in the face of someone who told her to stay on the sidelines and played anyway, because she knew exactly what I found to be true over the course of my four years here at Harvard, which is this: Sport forges the strongest bonds, the toughest lessons, and the most courageous people.”

One of those courageous people was lacrosse player Andrew Perry, who won the John P. Fadden Award, which recognizes an athlete who has overcome physical adversity. He came back from double hip surgery and helped the team make Ivy League and national tournaments. As he strode to the podium, his teammates rose in standing ovation. 

Perry thanked his family, teammates, coaches, and especially singled out athletic trainer Nic Benitez. “You constantly had to perform miracles to keep me on the field, to be honest,” Perry said. “I hope you enjoy all the free time you’re going to have now that I’m graduating.”

Justin Callahan had a big night. The most decorated sailor in Harvard history, he has twice been named Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) College Sailor of the Year and led Harvard to five national championships over four years. After graduating, he plans to train full time for the 2028 Olympics.

Callahan’s story is a family affair: His sailing teammate and best friend is his twin brother, Mitchell. Both were inspired to sail by their father, Paul Callahan ’85, who became quadriplegic at age 21 after suffering a devastating injury as a Harvard College student. The elder Callahan, who uses a wheelchair, earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, made the USA Paralympics team twice in sailing, and runs the nonprofit Sail to Prevail.

First, Justin Callahan won the John P. Reardon ’60 Award, which honors the top scholar-athlete from a men’s team. In a speech, he dedicated the award to his father.

“He is the definition of grit and the reason why I understand what perseverance really means,” Callahan said.

As it turned out, Callahan had not made his last voyage to the podium. Minutes later, he won the William J. Bingham Award — which recognizes the most outstanding athlete from a men’s team — alongside friend Jaden Craig, quarterback of the football team.

“Hey everyone, again,” Callahan said with a smile when he returned to the podium. “I don’t have another speech prepared.”

The night served as a grand finale for graduating seniors, but it also marked induction onto a larger team: the network of Harvard alumni athletes.

“Look around you now — only 15 percent of your class is here tonight,” Jessica Gelman ’97, president of the Harvard Varsity Club, told the seniors. “That means you figured out how to compete at the Division I level and get through Harvard. That is an incredible, incredible feat that has taught you many lessons that will stay with you throughout your life and your career.”

“And after college, your network expands in ways that you couldn’t predict,” Gelman added. “Every sport, every team in this room, that’s your network now … We are your teammates for life.”

Indeed, that team chemistry was evident when men’s basketball captain Chandler Piggé won the Director’s Award, honoring exceptional leadership, personal character, and integrity. Taking the podium, he turned the spotlight back on the audience.

“To all my fellow senior athletes, congratulations to all of you guys,” Piggé said. “As my grandmother would say, I love you all, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”