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California Institute of Technology

Coaches Frank Craska (left, blue shirt) and Kevin Whitehead (right, suit and orange tie, white shirt) stand with catcher Edward Speer (middle) for a photo. Speer holds a plaque commemorating his designation of Male Sportsperson of the year at Caltech.
Caltech Athletics

History & Awards Robert Hollar, Brian Mellblom

Beavers Honored at 2024-25 Student-Athlete Celebration

Caltech Athletics honored its student-athletes at its annual Student-Athlete Celebration on Monday, as Braun Gymnasium served as the venue for a dinner and awards ceremony.  

All of the award categories were specific to accomplishments by Caltech student-athletes. Dozens of Beavers were named to All-SCIAC teams in 2024-25, and several more earned Academic All-District honors. Moreover, Caltech teams and competitors surpassed over 20 program records and top-10 performances during the course of the school year.  

Before presenting awards to specific athletes, Caltech recognized Men's Soccer for adding two wins to its previous program record in 2024, for a total of eight victories. The department highlighted Women's Basketball and Track & Field for breaking program records in their respective sports. Additionally, Women's Water Polo and Baseball received resounding applause from the student-athlete attendees, as each squad earned victories over national top-15 teams this year.  

Afterwards, the department named men's and women's winners of the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Sportsperson of the Year, Athlete of the Year and the Director's Award. The Director's award, given for collective accomplishments and contributions across an entire career at Caltech, was chosen by outgoing Athletic Director Betsy Mitchell.  

Scholar Athlete Award  

The Scholar Athlete award recognizes student-athletes who have maintained the highest cumulative GPA in addition to making significant contributions to their respective sports over their careers. This year, Yoyo Benchetrit (Toronto, Ont. / St. Clements) of Women's Tennis and Evan Zhang (Great Falls, Va. / Thomas Jefferson) of Swim & Dive took home the honors.  

Benchetrit holds the No. 5 spot all-time for Caltech Women's Tennis singles wins with 34. Her 11 doubles wins in 2023 still stands as the fifth-most all-time for Beaver women. Benchetrit accomplished these athletic feats while maintaining a 4.3 Caltech GPA.  

Yoyo Bnechetrit (black dress and full-framed glasses, left) and Emmy Meyring (White blouse, right) pose for a photo with Benchetrit's gold-faced "Scholar-Athlete of the Year" Plaque. Meyring presented the award to Benchetrit moments earlier


Zhang earned a 4.2 Caltech GPA while setting all-time Caltech top-10 performances in seven different events, including three Caltech program records, one in the 50 freestyle and two more in relay events.  

Smiling and wearing a white button-up, Evan Zhang holds a his gold-faced plaque featuring his name in large font and the words "Scholar-Athlete of the Year" just visible above it, because of the lighting of the photograph, which is somewhat dark.



Sportsperson of the Year 

The Sportsperson of the Year award is presented annually to one male and one female Caltech student-athlete "who best represents the legacy of the Beavers, exemplifying what a Caltech student-athlete should be." Student-athlete Advisory Committee President Elizabeth Won presented the award to Edward Speer (Austin, Texas / Leander) of Baseball and Sophie Dalfonso (Fair Haven, N.J. / Rumson-Fair Regional), a multi-sport Beaver representing Cross Country and Track & Field.  

Edward Speer (suit and sporty bowtie, left) and Sophie Dalfonso (navy button up, ponytail, right) hold plaques reading "Sportsperson of the year." Orange and white balloons are partially visible at the top of the Frame.

Dalfonso ran the women's 6k faster than any Beaver in history (22:00.9) at this year's NCAA Cross Country West Regional Championship. Last year, she set the program records in the women's 5k and 10k, both of which still stand.  

Speer threw out 30 baserunners from behind the plate over his Caltech baseball career, while also collecting two walk-off hits and playing in over 100 games. Off the field, the computer science major served as Athletics co-chair of the Student Life and Experience Conference.  

Athlete of the Year 

The Athlete of the Year award is presented to one male and one female athlete from any school-sanctioned athletics program who has made the most outstanding competitive contributions to their team during a given season. The award has four divisions, one for individual sports and one for team sports in both men's and women's categories.  

This year, Etienne Casanova (Saratoga, Calif. / Saratoga) of men's soccer took home the Male team-sport Athlete of the Year award after a career-defining season at Caltech. Casanova broke the program records in career goals (27), career assists (16) and single-season assists (11).  

Wearing a black button-up and smiling from beneath his short curly black hair, Etienne Casanova holds a gold-faced plaque reading "Athlete of the year"

Daniel Amelinez-Robles (Madison, Wis. / James Madison) of Track & Field also took home Athlete of the Year honors. Amelinez-Robles finished 3rd in hammer and 4th in discus at the 2025 SCIAC Track and Field Championship. He broke the hammer school record this year, throwing 174'9".   He has earned All-SCIAC (top 3) finishes in three of the past four years, twice in discus and once in hammer. 

Daniel Amelinez-Robles holds a gold-faced plaque reading "Athlete of the Year." He wears a black button-up shirt. Orange and white balloons hanging above him are partially visible in the frame.

The pride of Caltech Women's Basketball, Kathryn Edwards (Centennial, Colo. / Arapahoe) claimed the Women's Athlete of the Year after breaking the all-time program record in both scoring and steals this season. She was third in the conference in steals and was named the 2025 SCIAC defensive player of the year. Edwards has been First Team All-SCIAC three times in her career.  

Smiling in front of a black background, Kathryn Edwards holds a gold-faced plaque reading "Athlete of the Year" in black text. She wears a pink floral-patterned spring dress.

Jana Woo (Saratoga, Calif. / Monta Vista) of Women's Swim & Dive also took home Athlete of the Year. She was an NCAA regional qualifier for the third consecutive season and is the current school-record holder in both the 1m and 3m. She was named the SCIAC diver of the week twice during the 2024-25 campaign.  

Jano Woo holds her plaque for Athlete of the Year in front of a black background while wearing a black crop-top

Director's Award 

Seniors who have competed for at least two seasons and made the most outstanding overall contributions to intercollegiate athletics during their Caltech career are eligible for the Director's Award. Tri-sport athlete Sophie Elam (Medford, Ore. / North Medford) and Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boys' Latin School of Maryland) of Baseball took home the prestigious honor.  

Elam was a team captain of two sports while also advocating on behalf of Caltech student-athletes as a member of the student government. She competed in soccer, cross country and track & field during her career at Caltech.  

Beaming with surprise and excitement, Sophie Elam holds her Director's award Plaque in front of a floral-patterned business casual dress.

Fishel was a three-year captain of the baseball team at Caltech. He set the program records in career hits and is second all-time in both doubles and runs scored. Fishel led the Beavers in batting average, hits, runs, doubles, triples, slugging and on-base percentage in 2025.  

Jack Fishel Holds his "Director's Award" plaque in front of his blue polo shirt with a black background.

The 2024-25 Student-Athlete Celebration was capped off by recognizing the Caltech senior class for cultivating a reputation of success and indomitable spirit in the face of incredible challenges. In so doing, these student-athlete leaders exemplify the Beaver spirit.  

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