HADLEY, Mass. – Caroline Adams of Middlebury and Hannah Jiang of Tufts have been selected as the NESCAC nominees for the 2026 Division III Commissioners Association (DIIICA) Women’s Sport Athlete of the Year Award.
A committee of NESCAC athletic administrators selected Adams and Jiang to represent the conference for regional consideration for the Division III Commissioners Association honor. The DIIICA Women's Sports Student-Athlete of the Year Award honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service, and leadership.
Caroline Adams, Middlebury Women’s Lacrosse
Adams graduated summa cum laude with a dual degree in neuroscience and Spanish and a 3.96 GPA. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and named the College Sports Communicators (CSC) At-Large/College Division Academic All-America Team Member of the Year. Adams also garnered Middlebury's Hazeltine-Klevenow Memorial Trophy, given to a women's team member who best combines ability in athletics and excellence in scholarship. The four-time NCAA Champion earned the Middlebury First Year Ward Prize for Writing and the President's Undergraduate Language Scholar in 2024.
Over her career, Adams logged three IWLCA All-American and All-Region honors, as well as three All-NESCAC nods. In 2026, she was the fifth consecutive Panther to be named the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) National Player and Attacker of the Year. Adams was also tabbed the NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year and named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player in 2026.
As a senior, Adams paced the NESCAC in goals (72), points (117) and draw controls (124). Her point total was two behind the single-season program mark, and she became the first Middlebury player to have 100 or more draw controls in three seasons. Adams graduated with the most draw wins in a career, tallying 473 over 86 contests.
Adams served as a teacher's assistant in the psychology department and a research assistant in both the neuroscience and organic chemistry departments while at Middlebury. She is a three-time NESCAC All-Academic Team member and an IWLCA Division III Honor Roll recipient. Adams served as Co-Leader and Sustainability Chair of Middlebury's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and a mentor for the Women in Health Science Club. She also volunteered in the local community as an interpreter at the Open Door Clinic and an Everybody Wins mentor at Mary Hogan Elementary School. She also participated in the United Way Days of Caring and was one of the top 30 volunteers in Middlebury's Helper Helper campaign in 2025-26.
Hannah Jiang, Tufts Women’s Rowing
Jiang graduated Summa Cum Laude from Tufts with a 3.88 GPA as a cognitive and brain science major and a philosophy minor.
A two-time College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American, she was also a three-time NESCAC All-Academic Team selection, a two-time CSC Academic All-District honoree, and a College Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Scholar-Athlete. Jiang was presented with Tufts' Human Factors Engineering Prize in 2025–26 and garnered the Rudolph J. Fobert Award from the Tufts Athletic Department for her athletic and academic performance.
As a coxswain, Jiang helped Tufts win three consecutive NCAA Championships and was the coxswain for the first-place NCAA 1V8 boat in all three championsihps. She was a three-time CRCA First Team All-American, a two-time NESCAC Team Champion, and competed at the 2025 Henley Royal Regatta in England.
During Jiang’s career, Tufts won three Head of the Charles Collegiate Eights trophies and four Points Trophies at the National Invitational Championships.
Jiang served as the women’s rowing team’s DEIJ Officer, was President of Tufts' Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and served as Head of Design for JumboCode (pro bono nonprofit software). She also worked as a Course Assistant for two upper-level courses and co-designed and co-taught a peer course on sports psychology while also mentoring high school coxswains and serving as a Campus Tour Guide.
