ITHACA, N.Y. — Nineteen members of the Cornell men's heavyweight rowing team have been named recipients of 2026 Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athlete awards, the organization announced Wednesday (June 24).

The Big Red's honorees include seniors Iason Diogenous, Shane Gazdus, Walid Ghamra, Michael Meneshian, and Harrison Sremac; juniors Sofie Cole, Bennett Dodge, Tony Klar, Johnnie Moriarity, and Constantino Oberto-Calleri; and sophomores Ward Dobeck, Iasonas Exarchou, Michael Goodall, Finn Hayes, Morley Pendred, Joost Schirm, Justin Umbrasas, Jack Walker, and Xavier Wendt.

Ghamra earned the distinction of posting the highest cumulative grade-point average among the 676 honorees — rowers and coxswains from 55 schools (31 heavyweight, seven lightweight, and 13 Division III) — while majoring in biology and society.

Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athlete awards are presented to collegiate rowers who are at least in their second year of eligibility at an IRCA member school and competed in their program's top three boats during the current season or raced at the 2026 IRA Championship. Eligible student-athletes must have carried a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.50 through the fall semester.

Combined with the lightweight program, Cornell had 26 student-athletes earn Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athlete awards — tied with MIT for fourth among the 55 programs and fourth among Ivy League institutions. Harvard led all schools with 48 honorees, followed by Princeton (44) and Columbia (33).