BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Caspar Lightner (Fr., San Diego, Calif./The Bishop’s School) and Adam Ivatorov (Sr., Rockaway, N.Y./Staten Island Technical) were recognized with the 2026 Varsity Club and Howard W. Johnson awards, respectively, during the 40th Annual Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER) Student-Athlete Excellence Banquet held on Wednesday, May 13, in the Johnson Ice Rink at the Al ’51 & Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center.
The duo helped MIT earn a spot at the 2026 USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate Championship where the squad finished in fourth place.
Lightner was named male co-recipient of the Varsity Club Award presented annually to the outstanding male and female freshmen athletes of the year at MIT.
The fourth water polo player to earn the award since its inaugural presentation in 1964, Lightner joins Kale Rogers (2013), John Schmitz (1980) and Pater Sanders (1969) in garnering recognition.
He completed his rookie campaign with a team-high 80 goals and 99 points, scoring in all but four games while recording 17 games with three or more goals, highlighted by three six-goal matches. He went 14-for-21 on sprints while collecting 20 steals.
A two-time Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Rookie of the Week recipient, he earned notice as the NWPC Rookie of the Tournament in addition to claiming All-Tournament First Team status at the league championship hosted by Brown University on Friday-Sunday, November 21-23. A NWPC All-Conference Honorable Mention recipient, he capped off his first-year in Cambridge, Mass., with USA Water Polo Division III Championships All-Tournament and Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division III All-America Honorable Mention laurels.
Ivatorov – who co-hosted the awards as co-president of the MIT Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) – took home the Howard A. Johnson Award presented annually to the male MIT senior athlete of the year.
He becomes the fourth water polo athlete to receive the highest athletic acknowledgement at MIT since the accolade’s inaugural presentation in 1948 joining Columbus Leonard (2012), Stefan Bewley (2001) and Preston Vorelicek (1979).
A three-time (2023, 2024, 2025) ACWPC Division III All-America Second Team honoree to rate as the second Engineer to register three All-America awards, Ivatorov reset the career scoring mark at the institution with 328 goals.
A 2023 USA Water Polo Division III Championship All-Tournament and a 2025 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Division III Men’s At-Large Academic All-America Third Team selection, he finished second on the team with 73 goals, drew a career-best 119 ejections and added 14 steals and eight blocks in 2025. For his final year performance, Ivatorov received NWPC All-Conference Second Team and NWPC Championship All-Tournament Honorable Mention notice to finish out his tenure as a three-time (2023, 2024, 2025) NWPC All-Conference selection.
