DENVER – The University of Denver athletic department celebrated another successful season of athletic and academic achievement on Thursday, May 28, at the 89th annual Crimson Carpet Awards on campus at Sturm Hall's Davis Auditorium.

DU athletics won 106 games at home in 2025-26, marking the fourth straight year the school eclipsed the century mark. The Pioneers also earned 27 total victories against schools from the leagues of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC. Denver claimed 12 conference championships and had seven programs reach the NCAA Tournament, including men's ice hockey winning its 11th national title in April in Las Vegas.
 
Individually, Pioneers garnered nine All-American awards and had 106 all-conference award winners. Additionally, women's alpine skiing's Mia Hunt was recognized with the NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest grade-point average at the 2026 NCAA Championships (non-first-year athletes).
 
Denver appeared on national television 12 times, had 50 ESPN+ broadcasts and 12 contests on regional sports networks.
 
Gymnastics repeated as this year's winner of the DU Athletics' prestigious gold vest, which is given to the program that exemplifies superior community service, leadership, academic achievement and spirit.
 
Freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks of men's Ice hockey and sophomore goalkeeper Lexi Gwaku of women's lacrosse were selected as DU's male and female student-athletes of the year.
 
Men's swimming and diving's Ian O'Neil was selected as the Comeback Player of the Year, which recognizes the student-athlete who overcame great obstacles and displayed tremendous grit and resilience to contribute to their team as selected by the athletic training staff.
 
Hicks helped backstop hockey to the conference tournament title and the national championship after posting an unbeaten season at 16-0-1. He recorded three individual shutouts and posted school records with a 1.19 goals-against average and .957 save percentage, the latter being an NCAA record. The Kamloops, British Columbia, native made a career-high 49 saves in a double-overtime win in Frozen Four vs. Michigan on April 9 before denying 29-of-39 shots in the championship game on April 9 against Wisconsin.
 
Gwaku led the Pioneers to their sixth straight Big East Tournament title and ranked third in the country with 7.22 goals-against average. She anchored the best scoring defense (6.90 goals-against average) and team save percentage (0.531) in the country. The Haddonfield, New Jersey, native posted four straight games with double-digit saves, including a career-high 13 saves in the Big East Championship win over Georgetown.
 
O'Neil returned to the pool this past season by ranking second on the team in the 200-meter butterfly, fifth in the 400-meter individual medley and sixth in the 200-meter individual medley. At the 2026 Summit League Championships, the Houston, Texas, native finished on the podium in third place in the 200 fly to earn all-league honors.
 
The full list of the Denver athletics' honorees are below.
 
Denver Athletics Award Winners:
Gold Vest: Gymnastics
Male Student-Athlete of the Year: Johnny Hicks, Hockey
Female Student-Athlete of the Year: Lexi Gwaku, Women's Lacrosse
Comeback Player of the Year: Ian O'Neil, Men's Swimming
 
Team MVPs:
Men's Basketball: Carson Johnson
Women's Basketball: Coryn Watts
Men's Golf: Jet Hernandez
Women's Golf: Anna Neumayer
Gymnastics: Shyla Bhatia
Hockey: Johnny Hicks
Men's Lacrosse: Grayson Manning
Women's Lacrosse: Lexi Gwaku
Men's Alpine Skiing: Adrian Minde Hunshammer
Women's Alpine Skiing: Mia Hunt
Men's Nordic Skiing: Eemil Juntunen
Women's Nordic Skiing: Eve-Ondine Duchaufour
Men's Soccer: Trevor Wright
Women's Soccer: Isabella Chidiac
Men's Swimming and Diving: Hamish McLellan
Women's Swimming and Diving: Julia Saxman
Men's Tennis: Raffaello Papajcik
Women's Tennis: Louise Wikander
Triathlon: Maira Carreau
Volleyball: Madison Winkler
 
Team Top Scholar Awards
Men's Tennis – 3.852 GPA
Women's Skiing – 3.883 GPA
 
Scholar-Athletes of the Year:
Freshman Female
Megan Aamold, Gymnastics
Stella Lynch, Women's Lacrosse
Elisabeth Creighton, Skiing
Cecilia Pizzinato, Skiing
Ruby Serrouya, Skiing
Olivia Barbieri, Swimming and Diving
Julia Saxman, Swimming and Diving
Lucrezia Gowdy, Triathlon
Abigail Conklin, Volleyball
Lily Van Hal, Volleyball
 
Freshman Male
Eric Jamieson, Hockey
Quentin Miller, Hockey
Reid Varkonyi, Hockey
Andreas Stroemme, Men's Soccer
Aaron Beduhn, Men's Tennis
 
Sophomore Female
Addie Hewitt, Gymnastics
Kacey Harvey, Women's Soccer
Kayla Patel, Volleyball
 
Sophomore Male
Grant Lund, Men's Soccer
 
Junior Female
Lexi Pletschette, Women's Basketball
Grace Dreiling, Women's Soccer
Kit Mooney, Women's Soccer
Liv Moritz, Women's Soccer & Skiing
 
Junior Male
Lucas Klokiw, Men's Lacrosse
 
Senior Female
Ava Welty, Women's Lacrosse
Nicola Rountree-Williams, Skiing
Shay Payne, Women's Soccer
Zoe Adkins, Women's Tennis
 
Senior Male
Cheyne Repp, Men's Lacrosse
 
Team Superlatives
As voted on by the student-athletes
• Most likely to be late to an athletic event: Hockey
• Bougiest Team: Women's Lacrosse
• Best dressed: Men's Soccer
• Most distinct scent: Hockey
• Best pregame music taste: Women's Lacrosse and Men's Soccer
• Best game day hair: Gymnastics
• Best sideline: Women's Soccer
• Voted most intelligent team: Skiing
• Highest caffeine intake: Swimming and Diving
• Who is Olympic bound: Skiing