Men’s basketball’s Otto Landrum, men’s swimming & diving’s Tony Ponomarev and softball’s Kasey Ricard were among the Boston University student-athletes honored at the annual Scarlet and White Awards ceremony on Tuesday.
At the ceremony, BU student-athletes, coaches and athletic personnel gathered in the Metcalf Ballroom at the George Sherman Union to celebrate BU student-athletes’ academic and athletic accomplishments.
BU leadership, including President Melissa Gilliam and director of athletics Drew Marrochello, emphasized the importance of both individual and community accomplishments in their opening remarks.
“This night is a celebration,” Marrochello said. “It’s a celebration of great individual achievements, it’s a celebration of great teams, and above that, it’s a celebration of us, of our community.”
The Scarlet and White Awards honor student service, scholarship, leadership, school pride and overall athleticism. 17 awards were given to various BU athletes and teams.
“Many of you reached your goals … and many of you exceeded them,” Gilliam said. “Hopefully, along the way, you had fun, you made friends, you pushed yourselves, you learned a lot and you had a lot of teamwork.”
Senior forward Otto Landrum of the men’s basketball team took home the John B. Simpson Award, presented to seniors who “have demonstrated enthusiasm and leadership,” according to BU Athletics’ website.
Landrum stepped up as both a leader and a teammate this season, despite being sidelined due to a season-long injury.
“Every joke, every laugh, every smile, every hug, that’s all real,” Landrum said. “That’s all joy. That’s all love. This school gave me more than basketball or academics. It gave me something I’ll love forever and a group of people I will love forever.”
Senior swimmer Tony Ponomarev of the men’s swimming and diving team earned the E. Ray Speare Award, given to BU’s top male scholar-athlete, honoring his academic achievements outside of his sport.
“It’s been a lot of work these last four years, and so it is really great to see it pay off.” Ponomerev said. “This season has been everything to me.”
Ponomarev currently holds a 3.73 cumulative GPA as a computer science and mathematics major in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Senior pitcher Kasey Ricard, of the BU softball team, won the Mildred Barnes Award, presented to the school’s top female athlete.
Ricard is the all-time BU and Patriot League leader in career pitching wins, with 101. She highlighted her strong senior season with two no-hitters this year.
Ricard said her biggest area of growth at BU was “learning how to deal with failure and how to bounce back quickly from it.”
“Our sport is full of failure, and you‘re going to fail a lot, and you’re going to fail when you try your hardest,” Ricard said. “Being able to bounce back the next time, quicker, more efficiently, and be able to shake off the losses and just focus on the goal ahead has been the big changer for me.”
To close out the night, senior Peace Omonzane of the women’s track and field team won both the Gretchen Schuyler Award and Woman of the Year.
Omonzane was also named Patriot League Indoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year title for the 2026 season.
This season, she swept the long jump and triple jump gold medals at the Patriot League Indoor Championships for the third consecutive year while setting meet and personal records along the way. Omonzane, a psychology major in the College of Arts & Sciences, has won Patriot League All-Academic Team honors three times in her collegiate career.
“[I] never really took into account that the people who are having an impact on me may also consider that I was having an impact on them,” Omonzane said.
Omonzane, a transfer student, said she learned a lot about herself as an athlete in her three years at BU.
“Coming off of two school records last year, I knew what I wanted to do,” Omonzane said. “To be given the opportunity to do it has meant so much, and to do it with this team, to come back and to win our first Patriot League title in like 10 years … I’m really, really fortunate.”
Also presented were the Student-Athlete Choice Awards, voted on by the athletes themselves.
Junior Marcus Guidry of men’s track and field and senior Ellie Roan of women’s track and field took home the “Unsung Hero” awards.
Sophomore Thomas Cowan of men’s track and field and junior forward Ava Maguire of women’s soccer were honored as “breakout athletes.”
Freshman guard Chance Gladden of men’s basketball and freshman utility player Irys Kline were named “Rookies of the Year.”
While some of these athletes may be moving on, younger Terriers will feel the culture their leadership has left behind for many more successful seasons to come.