Orange Place 14 on Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athlete List

The Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association (IRCA) announced its Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athletes for the 2025-26 season on Wednesday, and the Syracuse men's rowing program was well-represented with 14 honorees.

To earn Empacher IRCA Scholar-Athlete recognition, student-athletes must be in their second year or more of collegiate eligibility, have competed in their program's top three boats during the current season or raced at the IRA National Championship, and have achieved a cumulative GPA of at least 3.50 through the fall semester. The award is open to athletes from all IRCA member institutions.

The 14 Syracuse honorees are: Prestmann Agraz, Benjamin Campbell-Reide, Alex Dawallu, Luke Dunleavy, Anders Erlandsen, Tiernan Flanagan, Andrew Furlow, Michael Gore, Andrea Mantilla, Cole Nordby, Gunnar Platt, Niki Strauss, Lucas Tan and Jack Walker.

The 14 honorees signify another excellent year in the classroom for the Orange, who were recognized at the 2026 'Cuse Awards as the men's team with the highest GPA. It was the third year in a row the men's rowing team received this honor.

Agraz, a triple major studying Forensic Science, Russian Language Literature and Culture, and International Relations holds the highest grade point average on the team. This year, he received the Douglas Sheehan Excellence in Russian award, given to the individual who "demonstrated the highest level of dedication and academic excellence in Russian language studies" at Syracuse University.

Campbell-Reide was named to the 2026 ACC Excellence Award list, given to one male and one female athlete from each school that comes with a small graduate scholarship. He plans to continue his studies and rowing career at Cambridge University in the fall.

Dawallu, a double major in Economics and German Language Literature and Culture, was recognized for Outstanding Achievement in German. The award is given at the Gerlinde Ulm Sanford ceremony to the highest-achieving students from each language at SU.

Erlandsen recently completed his degree in Aerospace Engineering and received the William Piel Inventors Award from the Mechanical and Aerospace Awards Committee for having the top senior design project for mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Syracuse's 14 honorees reflect the program's commitment to excellence both on the water and in the classroom. The Orange concluded the 2025-26 season at the IRA National Championship in Sacramento, Calif., where the second varsity eight posted a fourth-place finish in the grand final — the program's best 2V8 result at the IRA in more than two decades -- while all four boats earned a top-10 finish for the second consecutive year.