The Graduation Issue 2025: Best of graduating seniors in men’s sports

As they conclude their careers with the Red and Blue, here are the best graduating men’s athletes from the Class of 2025.

Baseball — Will Tobin

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Will Tobin, Penn baseball’s left-handed pitcher from Spring Hill, Tenn., has been a steady presence for the Quakers.

In his four years playing on the team, Tobin has stood out for the Red and Blue with his confident and calm demeanor. Evolving his role over time from primary reliever to a starter in 2025, Tobin’s Swiss Army Knife asset has given the Quakers flexibility in big-time games.

In 2022, Tobin started off his campaign with six appearances. This steadily increased to 17 in 2023, when he started to gain his footing in the program. Fast forward to 2024, and Tobin would play a key role in the helping the Quakers win back-to-back Ivy League championships as a relief pitcher. In 2024, he would make 22 appearances and have the lowest ERA of his career at 4.81.

This season, Tobin has made strong appearances as a starter on the mound. With 11 appearances and all of them coming as a starter, Tobin has gained the trust and respect of his teammates heading down the home stretch of the season. Despite Penn having an up-and-down pitching season, Tobin has remained integral in the Quakers’ hopes of a three-peat Ivy League championship win.

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Men’s basketball — Nick Spinoso

When you look back at the final years of former Penn men’s basketball head coach Steve Donahue’s tenure with the team, certain names will spring to mind — former Penn guard Jordan Dingle, Class of 2024 guard Clark Slajchert, and now senior center/forward Nick Spinoso. 

This past season, the center averaged 13.3 points per game — the highest of his career. With star sophomore guard Sam Brown struggling at the start of the season, Spinoso was the number-two scoring option behind junior forward Ethan Roberts until the start of Ivy League conference play.

After Brown upped his production in the latter half of the season, Penn’s offense continued to run through its big man. Spinoso, known for his playmaking, led the Quakers in total assists with 84.

In Penn’s penultimate game, Spinoso surpassed the 1,000-point mark in a road win against Columbia, becoming just the 35th player in program history to reach the landmark. The New York native had the opportunity to celebrate the millennium mark with family and friends who drove into the city. 

Spinoso was never “the guy” for Donahue’s squad, but he was always the team’s spark. His pure passion for basketball and his determination to win was evident to every attendee who clambered into the Palestra over the past four years. 

Football — Shiloh Means

Few Penn football players in the program’s history have been as consistent as Means, who ends his Quaker career with nearly 40 games played, 173 total tackles, and two first team All-Ivy selections. The safety net in the back of the Red and Blue’s defensive front, Means steadily improved each season of his career and made plays all over the field as a senior, tallying 57 total tackles, three interceptions, and 11 passes defended. Means finished second in the Ivy League in picks and third in pass breakups. 

Taking the mantle of captain as a senior, Means also oversaw a defense that finished in the top half of the conference in scoring average. Before the season, Means said he saw the responsibility as a chance to hold the team to a higher standard. 

“It’s a challenge for me to hold myself accountable, like with everything that I do,” Means said. “And I think it is nice for the guys to look to me to hold them accountable as well, because … they know that I’ll challenge them.”

In April, Means also received a professional opportunity via a minicamp invitation from his hometown NFL team, the Indianapolis Colts. 

Track and field — Dylan Throop

Senior distance runner Dylan Throop is known for competing in the races that no one else would likely ever want to run: the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter. As luck would have it, Throop has experienced probably his best season during his last year with the Quakers. He broke his own school record in the men’s outdoor 10,000m at the 2025 Raleigh Relays and recorded a personal best in the outdoor 5,000m at the 2025 Penn Relays, cementing his position as one of the best distance runners at Penn. His 13:41.64 run at this year’s Penn Relays earned him ninth place overall and landed him in second in the program record book.

While many athletes commend their natural abilities, Throop maintains that his faith has gotten him where he is today. It has strongly affected his college experience, with Throop having converted to Catholicism during sophomore year and volunteering as an altar server at ​​St. Agatha-St. James Church. His achievements are just as impressive, having qualified for the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Championships for the 10,000m, earning United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic honors in 2023, and placing first in the Quaker record book for both the indoor 5,000m and outdoor 10,000m. These allowed him to rank third overall in the Ivy League in the outdoor 5,000m.

While he will be sporting a graduation cap in two weeks time, Throop’s track and field career is far from over. Due to an injury that prevented him from competing in the 2024 indoor and outdoor season, he has one more year of eligibility, which he plans to spend at Notre Dame alongside former teammate, close friend, and fellow altar server Wharton senior Titus Bretzke.

Swimming — Matt Fallon

There’s no need to overstate senior breaststroker Matt Fallon’s incredible successes. A 2024 Paris Olympian, American record holder for the 200-yard breaststroke, and two-time NCAA Championship runner-up in the same event, Fallon will no doubt go into Penn’s athletic history as one of the sport’s best.

But it’s important to also acknowledge the journey that got Fallon onto such a national stage. After a stellar freshman year, where he qualified for the NCAA Championships in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events and earned first team All-American honors, he was unable to compete at the NCAAs his sophomore year due to injury, threatening to halt progress on a trajectory with so much potential. 

Nonetheless, Fallon preserved – culminating in the dominant 2023-24 season, where he was crowned an Ivy League Champion in the 200 breast, gained first team All-American honors, and a history-breaking performance at the 2024 Olympic Trials. He capped off his Penn swim career with an equally strong showing, gaining first team All-American honors and defending his title as Ivy League champion. The breaststroker accomplished all this while also maintaining his standing as an academic powerhouse as a dual degree student in Wharton and Engineering. 

A true asset to Penn’s swimming and diving program, the team will have some big shoes to fill as this Olympian graduates from college swimming and moves on to focus on his professional career this summer. 

Tennis — Tal Goodman

Senior men’s tennis player Tal Goodman leaves behind a legacy of teamwork as an upperclassman and leader on the men’s tennis team, and it clearly shows in his game. For his first three seasons with Penn, Goodman performed well in singles, but it was his doubles matches that made the highlight. He finished 6-1 in doubles the spring of his junior year, all while competing with four different playing partners. In tennis, playing doubles is a game of cooperation. 

If one teammate is a touch too slow or the mentality is off sync, the match is lopsided. So Goodman’s impressive record in doubles, even with four different partners, stands as a testament to his ability to become one with any of his teammates, doing whatever it takes to find that spirit of unity and win the match.

That doesn’t mean to say Goodman is without individual skills. This year, he won critical singles wins in straight sets to secure Penn the fourth seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Championships. Penn men’s tennis will surely miss Goodman’s skills on the court, but they will likely miss more his willingness and ability to find the teamwork and camaraderie with any teammate during any match. 

Golf — Ben Scott

Senior golfer Ben Scott, who stands 6-foot-7, continually came up big for the Quakers throughout his collegiate career. As a junior, he led the Quakers and finished 14th overall at the Ivy League championships, including a -2 performance in the third round, his low on the season.

During his senior campaign, Scott finished 20th at the Ancient Eight championships while making his mark at other points. He was Penn’s low scorer at the Temple Invitational, Georgetown Intercollegiate, and Rice All-American Intercollegiate, while his low round on the season came with a first-round 68 at the Savannah Intercollegiate, where he finished tied for eighth overall.

Scott also featured in Penn’s lineup for all but one tournament across his junior and senior seasons, while his 25 tournament rounds in the 2024-25 season tied him for the team lead.

Lacrosse — Brendan Lavelle 

All-Ivy, All-American, and now off to the big leagues: Senior defender Brendan Lavelle has accomplished everything for Penn men’s lacrosse. In a star-studded career for the Red and Blue, Lavelle burst onto the scene, earning a second team All-Ivy nod and being a consensus All-America honorable mention in a 2022 season that ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Continuing his dominant trajectory, his 2023 season would see another All-America honorable mention as well as an upgrade to unanimous first team All-Ivy while starting in every game for the Quakers. In what would turn out to be the best season of his career, his 2024 campaign would end in a consensus first-team All-America honor from three different publications.

Now, finishing off his Penn career with a lackluster team record in his final season, Lavelle has been rewarded for his years of service by being drafted fifth overall in the Premier Lacrosse League to the Utah Archers — a testament to his national acclaim. 

Soccer — Leo Burney

Senior defender Leo Burney will be graduating from Penn with more than just a degree. He will be leaving with a long list of accolades that he earned from his time on the soccer field too. The two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year is the only graduating senior on the roster who was named first-team All-Ivy in all four years of his time with the Red and Blue. 

After coming in as a freshman and winning the starting job, Burney has started every single game that Penn has played since then. Burney followed up his rookie season with an even more impressive sophomore year, where he held opponents to just 0.78 goals per match, which earned him his first Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year award and a second-team All-American selection. Burney saved his best for last, however. In his senior year, he played a team-high 1,714 minutes while holding opponents to just 16 goals and 52 shots on goal across 19 games. 

Despite being well-known for his defensive prowess, Burney has also contributed on the offensive side of the ball, ending his Penn career with 11 goals and five assists. Some of his goals have come at the most crucial times, including a game-tying goal in the double-overtime win over Dartmouth as a freshman. In 2022, he was the fourth-highest scorer on the team as a center back, including game-winners against Yale and Cornell. And as a senior, he tied for second on the team for the most goals scored, finishing the season with four. Burney’s performance earned him his second Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and second-team All-American selections.

But while seniors are soaking up the last of Penn’s campus, Burney has already turned in his Red and Blue uniform for some different colors. The Seattle native is returning home to don the Rave Green and Pacific Blue of the Seattle Sounders Football Club. The senior signed a contract with the Seattle Sounders FC on December 9, 2024, after previously playing for United Soccer League League Two team Ballard FC from 2022 to 2024, where he co-captained the squad during its 2024 Northwest Division title-winning campaign.

Squash — Nick Spizzirri

When senior Nick Spizzirri joined the Penn men’s squash team, a lot of things changed. 

In Spizzirri’s first full season after COVID-19, Penn won its first Ivy League championship since 1974. He was named first team All-America by the College Squash Association for three consecutive seasons, culminating at his fifth and final season this year. He helped lead Penn to its first national championship win in his fourth year. Spizzirri came to deliver, and he helped transform Penn’s men’s squash program into a winning one through his mentality and drive. Before he came to Penn, he had already reached a high of No. 2 in the nation for under-19 squash athletes, but he was drawn to Penn because he saw an opportunity to grow individually and collectively with the program. As a super-senior, he continued to fulfill his visions of winning by helping Penn secure a second-straight national championship victory.

In Spizzirri’s five years at Penn, winning was exactly what he did. He helped pull his teammates along to develop a winner’s mentality, patience, and the right steps to win a championship. For him, winning isn’t an individual accomplishment: It’s a team accomplishment. Spirrizzi leaves Penn men’s squash with a new mentality and foundation of victory, and he now looks to go up and beyond, eyeing the 2026 London Olympics as his next challenge. 

Heavyweight rowing — Sam Sullivan

Whenever Penn needed him most, senior heavyweight rower Sam Sullivan, affectionately known as “The Beacon,” has always been there to answer the call. 

A positive light in the locker room, a leader, and one of the best rowers in the United States, Sullivan has been the gold standard in the boathouse for the previous two seasons. An Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-American in 2023 and 2024 — and currently working towards his third in as many years — Sullivan has been as consistent as they come.

Leading the varsity 8+ boat for the past three seasons, Sullivan has competed not only for the Quakers but also for another form of the red and blue. Rowing for the U.S. under-23 national team, Sullivan was named the 2024 USRowing U23 National Team Male Athlete of the Year for his contributions to the team’s second-place finish at the World Rowing U23 championships. 

One of his most recent accomplishments was leading the heavyweights to win the Blackwell Cup for the first time since 2002, and with plenty of season left, Sullivan has much more of his story to be written before the conclusion of his senior year.

Lightweight rowing — George Drago

As he sets sail on the Schuylkill River one final time, senior rower George Drago will wrap up four fruitful years with the Red and Blue. Drago had a bountiful first season, rowing in major events such as the Callow Cup and Wood-Hammond Cup. Ultimately, Drago would conclude by rowing in the fifth-place varsity eight at the 2021-22 Intercollegiate Rowing Association nationals.

Drago’s career would reach new heights from there. Drago earned the IRA All-Academic award in the 2022-23 season, and the Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar Athlete award in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Drago would also take to the international stage, winning silver at the 2024 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in the lightweight men’s pair event. In the 2023-24 season, Drago made history by helping the Quakers win the Jope Cup for the second time in program history. His awards and victories prove that he is a consistent force on the water. 

Fencing — Bryce Louie

Whether through silly Instagram reels that feature the fencing team dancing or winning an NCAA title, senior foilist Bryce Louie has impacted Penn men’s fencing program in positive ways.

In 2024, Louie was Penn’s first individual fencing national champion since 2013, and the first in foil since 1997. This year, he was named an NCAA qualifier, First Team All-Ivy, and Second Team All-America. Louie has been phenomenal for the fencing program, but it has been his leadership that will be missed most. 

He has focused on creating a team atmosphere of enthusiasm and dedication. Louie is not afraid to be himself, whether on the strip or on Instagram. He gets his teammates and seniors in other sports, such as Olympic senior swimmer Matt Fallon and standout basketball senior guard Stina Almqvist, to dance or be featured in fun sports clips. He has embraced being the leader on the team, staying longer after practice and encouraging teammates, even those who aren’t foilists, throughout the tiring afternoon hours. 

In his last season at Penn, Louie placed 5th at the NCAA Foil National Championship, but it isn’t a disappointing end, or even an end at all. He leaves behind a fencing program that is more united and dedicated to hard work. Post-graduation, Louie plans to continue fencing and hopes to qualify for the United States Men’s National Fencing Team. 

Wrestling — Nick Incontrera

It has always been wrestling for senior Nick Incontrera. 

During his time on the mat, Incontrera has made history for the Red and Blue. Though he couldn’t wrestle during his freshman year due the COVID-19 pandemic, Incontrera came back the following season with a strong 17-6 record and qualified for the NCAA tournament that year. By the end of 2021-22 season, Incontrera was No. 19 in the nation for his weight class.

Incontrera would continue his NCAA streak by qualifying two more times. In the 2022-23 season, Incontrera would qualify with an at-large bid. He would also qualify in the 2024-25 season, with the team finishing in 16th place out of 60 teams. Incontrera stepped off the mat the final time this season with a 25-8 record, a testament to his ability. Across his years, Incontrera would earn numerous second team All Ivy and EIWA awards.