MEDFORD, MA (June 18, 2025) – Softball's
Sophia DiCocco and Football's
Aundre Smith were selected as this year's recipients of the Adrian Misic Prize, awarded by the Tufts University Department of Athletics to the male and female students who demonstrate excellence athletically and academically, and are active in work which helps improve the human condition.
Nominations were solicited from the coaching staff early in the spring semester and a selection committee chose the winners. The selection committee included Tufts Baseball alumni David Frew, A04 and David Katzman, E09, and Tufts Director of Athletics John Morris. DiCocco and Smith will split the $2600 prize.
DiCocco graduated from Tufts in 2024 with summa cum laude honors. An international relations major as an undergrad, she returned to the Jumbo softball team for a fifth year of eligibility this spring while pursuing a graduate degree in the Tufts School of Engineering's Innovation & Management program. A two-time All-American at pitcher for the Jumbos, she had a 17-7 record and 2.50 era this spring to help head coach
Lauren Ebstein's team win the NESCAC Championship. A four-year All-Conference honoree, DiCocco also won her third straight Rawlings Gold Glove Award® for her defensive play this spring.
Off the field at Tufts, DiCocco served as an executive board member of a campus group promoting cancer outreach, organizing events and fundraisers to help further research. She also tutored and coached middle and high school students. In the community, she has worked as a horse caretaker for Stirrup Fun Stables Rescue to care for neglected, abandoned and abused horses and as a volunteer for the Borgen Project, advocating for policies to reduce global poverty and increase international affairs funding. She has also organized softball camps, as well as games to raise awareness and funds for various causes, and led National Girls & Women in Sports Day activities.
Smith is a 2025 Tufts University graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in biopsychology. A Dean's List student who was also a member of the Tufts Investment Club, he was a key performer on head coach
Jay Civetti's team for four years. A two-time All-Conference first team honoree at return specialist, he led NESCAC with a 25.8-yard average on kickoff returns in 2024. He amassed 1,067 yards and had a 20.9-yard average on kick returns for his career. He also returned punts and was a key contributor at running back, averaging nearly six yards per carry in his career (561 yards on 96 rushes). Tufts' 23-13 record during Smith's career represents one of the best four-year stretches in team history.
On campus, Smith took over as the president of the Black Athletes at Tufts (BAT) organization this year and worked to elevate the group's recognition and relevance at Tufts. He envisioned and enacted a strategy to help raise the profile of athletes of color on campus, which is a group that has historically been small and marginalized within the campus community. In particular, he organized the repairing of relationships between athletes of color and the Black Student Union, as well as the athletic department and Africana Center. He organized and co-hosted the first annual BAT Networking and Resume Building event, and in doing so rekindled relationships between the football program and several of the team's black alumni.
Adrian Misic was a young boy with brain cancer who was adopted by the Tufts Baseball team as part of the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, which works to improve the quality of life for children battling pediatric brain tumors and other childhood cancers by pairing them with local teams, clubs and community groups. Adrian and the Jumbos formed a special bond during the team's 2009 and 2010 seasons, with his bright spirit lifting the Jumbos. Adrian passed away on September 21, 2010 at just eight years old, and this prize is one of the ways in which Tufts remembers him. Read his story
HERE.
Adrian Misic Prize Recipients
2014: Samantha Gann (Tennis), Christian Sbily (Baseball)
2015: Colby Wilkinson (Football), Amanda Wachenfeld (Swimming)
2016: Cody McCallum (Baseball), Caroline Ross (Lacrosse)
2017: Amanda Gottschalk (Swimming)
2018: Mary Travers (Field Hockey)
2019: Juan Carlos Santos-Ocampo (Baseball)
2020: (Not Awarded)
2021: (Not Awarded)
2022: (Not Awarded)
2023: Tilly Rigby (Tennis)
2024: Jack Meehan (Golf), Callie O'Brien (Basketball)
2025:
Sophia DiCocco (Softball),
Aundre Smith (Football)
--JUMBOS--
