NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale Athletic Department honored eight senior student-athletes with awards Tuesday as part of the department's annual celebration of the senior class.
Theo Dean of the men's tennis team and Sherry Wang of the gymnastics team earned the Thomas W. Ford Student-Athlete Community Outreach Award. Annie Lin of the women's fencing team and Hank Michalik of heavyweight crew earned the Delaney Kiphuth Student-Athlete Distinction Award. Dathan Hickey of the football team and Audrey Leak of the volleyball team earned the Molly Meyer Humanitarian Award. Yussif Basa-Ama of the men's basketball team and Felix Mebius of heavyweight crew earned the Amanda D. Walton Award.
The Thomas W. Ford Student-Athlete Community Outreach Award is presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete who during the past four years have demonstrated a commitment to strengthening the relationship between Yale Athletics and the youth in the New Haven community.
A two-year captain, Theo Dean has led the men's tennis team's involvement in NewHYTEs, an after-school tennis and academic mentorship program serving more than 100 economically disadvantaged students annually across Greater New Haven. The program was started in 2008 by Yale men's and women's tennis coaches and players. Dean also participated in the team's youth tennis clinic this past February and a pre-match clinic at the Cary Leeds Tennis Center in the Bronx last month. Dean is a political science major. He is a native of Livermore, Calif., and a graduate of Granada High School.
Sherry Wang participated in numerous community service events as a member of Yale's gymnastics team, including park cleanups, church carnivals and Youth Day at the team's home meets. She also became involved with the Yale Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) during her sophomore year. After she joined SAAC's diversity, equity and inclusion subcommittee, she realized there was no affinity group for Yale's Asian-American student-athletes. She co-founded and became co-president of the Yale Asian Student-Athletes (YASA), an affinity group aimed at fostering a supportive community to celebrate Asian heritage.
Wang earned first team All-GEC honors on floor exercise and second team All-GEC honors on the uneven bars this past season, helping the Bulldogs to a second-place finish at the conference championship meet. She is a history of science, medicine and public health major. She is a native of Austin, Texas, and a graduate of Vandegrift High School.
The Delaney Kiphuth Student-Athlete Distinction Award is presented annually to one male student-athlete and one female student-athlete with the top cumulative GPA over four years at Yale.
Annie Lin is an electrical engineering major and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was vice president of, and a junior inductee to, Tau Beta Pi, the second-oldest collegiate honor society in the US dedicated specifically to engineering scholars. She also earned Yale's Bella and Carl Morse Award, given to a student in applied physics, chemical engineering, electrical engineering or mechanical engineering who has completed his or her junior year and, by outstanding scholarship and participation in extracurricular activities within the department, has demonstrated leadership among fellow students.
Lin was elected captain of the women's fencing team for this past season. She earned honorable mention all-region in foil at NCAA Regionals three times and helped the Bulldogs to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championship this past year. She is a native of Toronto, Ont., and is a graduate of Branksome Hall.
Hank Michalik is an economics major. He served as president of Yale Undergraduate Diversified Investments, the largest finance club at Yale, for two years. He organized educational and recruiting events with industry representatives and coordinated club-exclusive speaker events featuring accomplished industry veterans, including public figures and CEOs of major banks.
Michalik has been a part of Yale heavyweight crew's ongoing success, including Eastern Sprints and Ivy League championships in 2022 and 2023 (the Bulldogs' sixth and seventh straight titles) and the Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy for overall supremacy at the IRA National Championship in 2023. Michalik is a native of Rye, N.Y., and a graduate of Brunswick School.
The Molly Meyer Humanitarian Award is given annually to male and female senior student-athletes whose character exemplifies selfless devotion along with compassion and concern for their team and the community at Yale and beyond.
Dathan Hickey was an instrumental member of Yale football's Ivy Championship teams in 2019, 2022 and 2023. He has been described as a natural leader who puts his teammates before himself in all that he does on and off the field. To give back to the community, in 2022 Hickey began a free football clinic for all youth in Connecticut. He worked tirelessly to gain sponsors to provide an amazing experience for the participants, and he brought in his Yale teammates to work at the camp and bond with the children.
During his time at Yale Hickey was also involved in the Black Student-Athlete Coalition and volunteered for the Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive, helping recruit hundreds of people to register as potential genetic matches for patients in need of marrow transplants. Hickey, a defensive back who appeared in 30 career games and totaled 101 tackles for the Bulldogs, is a psychology major. He is a native of Bristol, Conn., and a graduate of Bristol Central High School.
Audrey Leak, an outside hitter, played a key role in Yale's Ivy League Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2022 and 2023. She earned first team All-Ivy honors in 2022 and 2023 and VolleyballMag.com Honorable Mention All-America recognition in 2023. Off the court she has served her community in multiple ways: through Yale Athletics' Student-Athlete Mentor (SAM) program; as a board member for the Black Student-Athlete Coalition, including volunteering at the New Haven Boys & Girls Club and attending the 2022 Black Student-Athlete Summit; and as vice president of the Black Student Alliance at Yale, serving as a weekly host of activities such as resumé building, study breaks and mentorship programs. She also organized events on campus such as a Kwanzaa Ball, Black Film Nights and meet and greets with the Harvard Black Student Alliance. She was selected as one out of 400+ applicants to work with Make a Play Foundation, analyzing case studies to provide solutions to complex social issues.
Leak is a neuroscience major. She is a native of Saddle River, N.J., and a graduate of Dwight-Englewood School.
The Amanda D. Walton Award is given at the discretion of the Athletics Department to an outstanding student-athlete (male or female) who has excelled on the field of play and who has shown spirit and courage in transcending unforeseen challenges.
Yussif Basa-Ama was brought to America from Ghana in the eighth grade. A victim of human trafficking, he was mistreated by the people who brought him to the U.S. and had to overcome incredible obstacles to be where he is today.
After being a Florida Mr. Basketball finalist in high school and leading his team to a state championship, Basa-Ama appeared in 48 games over three seasons at Yale and helped the Bulldogs to an Ivy Tournament Championship and first-round win in the NCAA Tournament this past season. He was also part of Yale's 2023 Ivy League Championship team and NIT appearance and the Bulldogs' 2022 Ivy League Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. Basa-Ama is an African studies major. He is a native of Bolgatanga, Ghana, and is a graduate of Saint Andrew's School in Florida.
As a sophomore in 2022, Felix Mebius sat in the bow seat of the 3rd Varsity 8+ that went undefeated, winning both the Eastern Sprints Championship and the IRA National Championship. In January of 2023 he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Mebius took some time off from rowing in the months after the diagnosis, but eventually rejoined the team in the spring. He was part of Yale's 4th Varsity 8+ crew that led the Bulldogs to an upset over Harvard in the last race of 2023.
Mebius is a cognitive science major. He is a native of Groningen, the Netherlands, and a graduate of Willem Lodewijk Gymnasium.
