They Did Both, and Well: Honoring High-Performing Student-Athletes at the 2026 Ambler Award Ceremony

This year, 17 members of the senior class are being recognized for their academic and athletic achievements.

On Thursday, April 9, the Athletics Department hosted a dinner honoring Haverford College Track and Field athletes Carly Priest ‘26 and Jonah Hoffmann-Weitsman ‘26, the co-winners of the William W. Ambler ‘45 Award, as well as 15 senior scholar-athlete nominees. This accolade “recognizes the highest level of achievement over four years in both the academic and athletic endeavors of a student-athlete.” Bestowed upon the student-athlete(s) of the graduating class with the highest cumulative grade point average, the Athletics Department deems the Ambler Award “one of, if not the, most prestigious awards” they present.

The award was named after Bill Ambler ’45, a longtime Director of Admission at Haverford. In addition to promoting racial diversity and coeducation at the College, Ambler was a strong football player and key contributor to Haverford’s only undefeated football season. He paused his Haverford education to join the Civilian Public Service during World War II and eventually graduated in 1949 with a Mathematics degree.

The night began at 6:30 p.m. in Founders’ Great Hall with a reception, where students, faculty advisors, family members, and coaches mingled. Handshakes were exchanged, pictures were taken, and memories were recounted. Then the attendees were seated and shared a meal.

After dinner, nominees were asked to introduce themselves by sharing their majors, thesis topics, favorite athletic memories at Haverford, and plans for the future. 

The nominees represented eight majors, 14 teams, and two countries. 10 of the 17 students were team captains. After graduation, they intended to work in investment banking and consulting, apply to graduate schools, and attend medical school.

At the end of the night, Hoffmann-Weitsman and Priest were recognized by their academic mentors and coaches. Assistant Professor of Chemistry Gordon Peterson, Hoffmann-Weitsman’s thesis advisor, told the audience that he considered Jonah to be “closer to me as a collaborator than as a mentee.” He shared that in 2025, Hoffmann-Weitsman had won the Barry Goldwater scholarship, a prestigious, merit-based accolade awarded to students intending to pursue research careers in the natural sciences.

“No matter which path he chooses, I couldn’t be more confident that he’s going to thrive.” Peterson said. He emphasized that Hoffmann-Weitsman’s future colleagues will be lucky to work with him.

Matt Cohen, the Men’s Cross Country and Track and Field Head Coach, said that when Hoffmann-Weitsman walked onto the team, “he’d never run a step of track and field.”

However, Cohen highlighted that the now-captain “had an approach as a varsity-level collegiate athlete that was going to make himself better and bring his teammates with him. He’s lived up to that high personal standard that he has for himself every day along the way.”

In his concluding remarks, Cohen expressed his gratitude for Hoffmann-Weitsman’s leadership and dedication to the men’s track and field team. He said, “Thank you for falling in love with a new sport.”

Priest’s neuroscience research advisor, Bryn Mawr College Assistant Professor of Biology Hannah Shoenhard, admired Priest’s resilience, high-achieving disposition, and inclusive nature. She recounted Priest’s difficult journey through her senior thesis work, which involved a string of failed experiments, despite her best efforts. Shoenhard was eager to report that Priest’s most recent results have been promising, emphasizing that her perseverance paid off.

“Carly is the kind of person who continues to work hard,” she said. “Even after getting knocked down, she is showing up again and again and she’s putting in the time, and eventually she did get that amazing result.”

Shoenhard admired the “incredibly positive, mutually supportive… spirit of teamwork that Carly brought to this lab as a role model.” She claimed that Priest “set the bar for excellence.”

Annick Lamar, the Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field Head Coach, had much to say about Priest’s legacy on and off the track. She praised her hard-working nature, her caring disposition, and her polite honesty, which Lamar claimed to have prompted a shift in her coaching that helped Priest run new personal best times in races. “Rare athletes force their coaches, through trust, respect, and concern, to rewire how they operate.”

Finally, the nominees themselves addressed the audience. Hoffmann-Weitsman gave a speech thanking his support systems for their encouragement and belief in his potential. “Now I can really see that I am nothing more than a product of the incredible people that surround me,” he said.

Hoffmann-Weitsman gave a special shout-out to his teammates on the track and field team. When deciding whether to push through a labrum tear to finish out his last track season, he claimed that his teammates kept him going. He said, “I knew there was so much joy to be found in the process of every day showing up and getting to hang out with some of my favorite people in the world.”

Priest extended gratitude to her family, academic and athletic mentors, and friends for the support she has received. She thanked her mother for introducing her to track, despite never having run it herself, and her father for mailing her handwritten letters after every frustrating race.

Priest emphasized that she measures her success against metrics aside from her GPA. She has learned “resilience, how to put others before yourself, or to not talk back to your mom when you find out she signed you up for a sport that you didn’t want to do, because it might work out for you in the end.”

The energy in the room was warm and hopeful. All of the students in the room shared one common denominator: an awareness that high achievement at the academic and athletic level is only possible with the support of caring community members.