A smiling group of URochester student-athletes stood alongside one another on the field during halftime of the Sept. 4 football game against Case Western Reserve University, as teammates cheered from the sidelines and stands. The students, all seniors, representing 10 different Yellowjacket varsity teams, were the 2026 recipients of the Lysle “Spike” Garnish Scholar-Athlete Award, which honors seniors for excellence both in the classroom and in collegiate athletics. This year, the Garnish Award recognized Nathaniel “Nate” Attwell, Sammy Besztery, Nora Chen, Braydon Felsinger, Grayson Honig, Julianna Lyons, Tia Poulakidas, Ethan Samora, Daniel Steinacher, and Jenna Ufberg.
Each recipient was nominated by their coach before being selected by the Garnish committee.
Vice President for Student Life, Dr. John Blackshear, and Executive Director of Athletics, George VanderZwaag, presented the honors, as families joined the recipients on the field and the crowd celebrated. First awarded in 1986, the Garnish Award was named in memory of Lysle “Spike” Garnish, a longtime coach and athletic trainer at the University during the 1930s and ’40s.
While their athletic and academic paths at Rochester vary, the recipients share an experience that extends beyond their accomplishments on the field, court, track, or pool. The Garnish Award honors the first three years of achievement, recognizing the dedication, relationships, and personal growth behind these milestones, and the constant balance between academic and athletic commitments.
Men’s soccer player Daniel Steinacher explained that he stays several days ahead of his work just to keep pace. To him, balancing academics and athletics means “studying for an exam on a bus ride or going straight from a lecture to a game on a Wednesday night.” Ultimately, Steinacher said, “everything boils down to time management.”
But finding enough hours in the day is only part of that balancing act. For men’s tennis player Ethan Samora, some of the demands of collegiate athletics continue long after he steps off the court.
Samora pointed to the mental exhaustion that can accompany competition — something he believes those not on a varsity or intramural team may not always see. After a match against one other school, he explained, athletes still need time “to recover, to reset, to debrief with your coach and teammates about what went well or what didn’t.”
“The mental commitment goes far beyond simply being on the court.” Samora said.
That commitment also drives women’s basketball player Tia Poulakidas, who said game day represents only the most visible part of being a student-athlete. Behind it are “long practices to extra workouts,” followed by classes, studying, and late nights in the library. The experience, she said, “also taught me a lot about discipline and setting priorities,” even when balancing the two had been difficult.
Yet, for Poulakidas, those challenges have also prompted her to consider why continuing to compete is important to her. She recalled professors asking why she had not quit her sport to focus solely on academics: “The answer has always been that I genuinely love my sport and, just as importantly, I love the people I get to share it with,” Poulakidas said.
Across the Garnish Scholars’ responses, those teammate relationships emerged as a defining part of their experiences as student-athletes at URochester. In particular, the scholars expressed immense admiration for student-athletes who came before them.
Women’s track and field athlete Nora Chen looked back on watching URochester standout Megan Bell (’25) receive the same award when Bell was a senior. Chen described Bell as one of her “biggest role models” and the track and field team’s “own personal celebrity.” She felt “it was a little surreal to be standing on the field, being handed the same award in the same spot that [Bell] had been two years prior.”
“When she graduated, she left behind some pretty big shoes to fill,” Chen added. “To me, this was a sign that [said] ‘Oh hey, maybe we really are growing into them.’”
Similarly, Poulakidas recalled watching former teammates Abby Gress (’24) and Raquel Williams (’25) receive the Garnish Award when she was an underclass student. Poulakidas said she “looked up to them in so many ways,” and found seeing them recognized for their accomplishments both in the classroom and in their sport “truly inspiring.”
Samora found a similar source of inspiration within the men’s tennis team. As a first-year student, Samora looked up to then-captain and former Garnish Scholar Krish Vennam (’25), whose example changed what Samora believed he could accomplish as a student-athlete. Coming into college, Samora “didn’t even plan to try to maintain a 4.0 [GPA] while playing tennis and doing research.” But after watching Vennam do all three, Samora said he realized “it was possible.”
Now in the position to inspire younger teammates, the Garnish Scholars are considering what they hope to leave behind for those who follow them.
Steinacher said he hopes to be remembered as “someone my teammates could trust and rely on, both on and off the field.” Beyond soccer, Steinacher hopes to be “someone on campus who people feel comfortable coming to for help or advice.”
Chen said she hopes to leave Rochester having helped “facilitate a positive team culture and encourage stronger bonds across our different event groups.” For Chen, that goal comes from the sense of community she has experienced as a student-athlete. “I feel so lucky to be a part of this community, and so I want to do my best in the time I have left to bring us all together,” she said.
For Samora, that legacy means showing younger teammates what is possible. Having once looked to former teammate Vennam as proof that he could excel academically while competing in tennis and conducting research, Samora now hopes to fill a similar role himself. “I hope to inspire my younger teammates to do things they thought [were] previously not possible,” he said.
Poulakidas similarly hopes that her time at URochester will be remembered for more than individual achievements. “I’ve never wanted my experience at [U]Rochester to be defined solely by individual accomplishments or statistics,” she said. “What has meant the most to me has been the people I’ve met, the relationships I’ve built, and the experiences I’ve had with my teammates.”
As the scholars enter their final year at URochester, the recognition marks not only what they have accomplished, but the examples they now hope to leave behind. While their academic and athletic achievements brought them onto the field to be recognized, their reflections point just as much to the teammates, mentors, and communities that shaped them along the way. Now, the scholars have the opportunity to become those same examples for the student-athletes who will follow them.
