BABSON PARK, Mass.—The Babson College Department of Athletics and Recreation celebrated the Class of 2026 with its 45th Annual Senior Awards Ceremony on Tuesday afternoon inside the Sorenson Arts Center. A Celebration of Champions honored the individual and team success of 112 senior and graduate student-athletes. 

The celebration was highlighted by eight-time All-America selection Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) being named the Judy Blinstrub Female Athlete of the Class and men's basketball all-region selection Timmy O'Toole (Milton, Mass.) earning Male Athlete of the Class accolades. Field hockey All-American Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) was selected as the recipient of the George S. Wilson Award, while NEWMAC Men's Lacrosse Player of the Year Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.) was tabbed as the Eric Dosal Award winner. 

Lilly Bedard (Jupiter, Fla.) and Liam Goldstein (Princeton, N.J.) were chosen as the Dr. Norm Govoni Scholar-Athletes of the Class, and Colin Fowler (Portland, Ore.) of men's golf and Martin Mejia (Cali, Colombia) of men's tennis were named as the winners of the Conlon Award. Allessia Carlo (Carmel, N.Y.) of women's basketball was the recipient of the Lori Vengrow Award, Ryan Murphy (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) was selected as the Colin "Chip" Brown Award winner and teammate Jake Thibeault (Fitchburg, Mass.) received a Special Recognition Award.

In addition to the senior awards, Andy Britton, and IT infrastructure engineer at Babson, was given the Paul C. Staake, Jr. Award for outstanding contributions to the athletics department. 

The Class of 2026 has enjoyed tremendous success in competition and in the classroom over the past four years. The Beavers captured two national championships, have made 46 national tournament appearances, claimed 14 regular season league titles and 23 conference tournament championships. Additionally, over 79 percent of the class will graduate with a GPA of 3.0 or better.