Valeri Guevarra

They say you will always remember your first, and men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery had a first season at Penn for the ages this past year. McCaffery joined the Quakers as head coach in April 2025 after serving as head coach of Iowa for 15 years. The new gig was a homecoming for McCaffery, as he is a program alum and had a brief assistant coaching stint with the Quakers in the 1982-83 season. McCaffery said there was “no prouder moment” than getting the job.

Senior distance freestyle specialist Sydney Bergstrom’s final season with the Quakers has been nothing short of impressive. Bergstrom started her senior season on the back of her first appearance at the NCAA Championships at the end of her junior season, where she finished 36th in the 1,650-yard freestyle and 57th in the 500-yard freestyle. She started her senior season with the same spirit, contributing valuable points for Penn at every meet.

Meet the best men’s athletes graduating in the Class of 2026. Senior pitcher Thomas Shurtleff, also the team co-captain, has been an anchor for Penn baseball. In his collegiate career, Shurtleff helped the Red and Blue win back-to-back Ivy League Tournament titles in 2023 and 2024, with a chance for a three-peat this season. A consistent force in late-game situations, he won Ivy League Pitcher of the Week in 2025 and threw a seven-inning shutout with 10 strikeouts against Princeton this season.