Duke student-athletes Austin Simpson and Sydney Smith have been named the 2026 recipients of the Heidrick Family Leadership Post Graduate Scholarships.
The awards, created through a gift from Bob Heidrick and his family, go to graduating Duke student-athletes who have made an impact as leaders inside Duke Athletics and beyond it. The selection is based on more than athletic performance. It also reflects character, growth as a leader, commitment to others and the promise of future service.
Each scholarship is worth $10,000 and is intended to support graduate or professional school. The money must be used within three years of graduation from Duke University.
Simpson, a men’s swimming and diving standout from New York, New York, was a key figure for Duke over the last four seasons and captained the team during the 2025-26 campaign. As a senior, he posted 14 top-five finishes, highlighted by a runner-up result in the 500-yard freestyle at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships.
Over his career, he competed in 39 meets and collected 42 top-five placements. He raced at the ACC Championships every season and finished his Duke career ranked eighth in the 500 free and 1650 free, and ninth in the 1000 free on the program’s top-10 list.
His impact reached well beyond the pool. Simpson served as a team leader for Duke University Experiential Orientation in Fall 2023 and 2024 and as a project director in 2024-25.
He also worked as a programming coordinator for Blue Devil Days this past spring, spent four years in the Greg Dale Leadership Program, and was a three-year participant in the Duke ACE Program. In addition, he helped coordinate Duke swim & dive’s involvement with Team IMPACT and served on the Duke Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for the last two-plus years.
Simpson’s service extended into Durham and New York as well. At Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, he worked as a curriculum instructor, building and teaching a course on the dominant scientific practices in agriculture, manufacturing, energy and medicine.
In Durham, he directed the Duke “Swimming with the Blue Devils” program, which runs monthly free water safety clinics for underserved youth led by Duke varsity swimmers and divers. He also helped bring back a Duke-Durham neighborhood partnership aimed at serving local families and expanding access to swim instruction.
Academically, Simpson graduated magna cum laude with a 3.973 career GPA. He earned degrees in biology, with a concentration in marine sciences, and evolutionary anthropology, with a concentration in anatomy and paleontology, along with a minor in chemistry. He was one of seven scholars chosen for Duke University’s competitive Scholars in Marine Medicine undergraduate research program, and he was a four-time Dean’s List with distinction honoree and a four-time All-ACC Academic Team selection.
Smith, a women’s lacrosse defender from Mt. Airy, Maryland, was another steady force for Duke and a central piece of the Blue Devil defense.
She was a three-year member of the team’s leadership council and finished the 2025-26 season with 20 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers. Over her career, she appeared in 64 games with 39 starts, recording 40 ground balls and 38 caused turnovers.
Her leadership work was just as extensive away from the field. Smith spent the last three years on the Duke SAAC Executive Board and served as president during the 2025-26 academic year.
In that role, she represented and served as a liaison between administrative faculty and student-athletes at Duke and across the ACC. She also served as secretary for Duke’s United Black Athletes organization, was a member of the Duke ACE program, worked as an ACTION mentor and served as an ACC Unity Tour delegate.
Smith also gave back through coaching and mentoring, working at Duke women’s lacrosse camps, the McDonough School and with young girls in the Durham community.
In the classroom, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a 3.893 career GPA. She earned Dean’s List distinction three times, completed an honors thesis on intuitive eating in Division I lacrosse players and took part in research in the motivated cognition and aging brain lab and Bass Connections: DukeIMPACT.
Smith also earned the 2026 ACC Postgraduate Scholarship, was an ACC Top Six for Service Award and Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar recipient in 2024, and was a four-time All-ACC Academic Team selection and 2025 IWLCA Academic Honor Roll honoree.
In Other News...
UNC Embarrassment Just Took Another Turn Duke Fans Saw Coming
North Carolinas football operation hit another awkward stretch this week, with general manager Michael Lombardi suddenly stepping into the spotlight for reasons the school did not spell out. Lombardi, who has been tightly linked to Bill Belichicks rebuild of the Tar Heels, has been one of the most visible figures in the programs new structure and one of the most expensive, too.
The move only adds to the scrutiny around a UNC football setup that already drew plenty of attention for how aggressively it was being built. For Duke fans watching from across the Triangle, the intrigue is less about the announcement itself than what comes next, because the school has offered no details and, under its standard policy, is not expected to provide any. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Is Getting Elite Offense Buzz For One Big Reason
Dukes offseason buzz is already drifting beyond the usual roster-watch chatter, with CBS Sports analyst Isaac Trotter putting the Blue Devils in the conversation for one of college basketballs best offenses in 2026-27. That kind of projection usually starts with talent, and Duke has plenty of it to point to, from returning production to transfer help and a recruiting class that keeps the ceiling high even before a ball is tipped.
The more interesting part is how the pieces are expected to fit together, because this is not just a one-star setup. Dukes backcourt and frontcourt both look loaded with options, and the mix of veterans, newcomers and high-end freshmen gives the staff a lot of ways to build around its next wave of scorers. The unanswered question is whether all that firepower turns into the kind of efficient, balanced offense that can live up to the early hype. [Read more 🡒]
One Duke Defender Just Became Central To This Roster Reset
Dukes 2026 reset has already taken shape in the transfer portal, where Manny Diaz and his staff have worked to patch the roster after a wave of departures to the NFL Draft and the portal. The Blue Devils are rebuilding around a new quarterback in Walker Eget, while the staff has added help from mid-major programs and tried to keep enough continuity on the defensive side to stay competitive in the ACC.
One of the biggest reasons for optimism is the return of players who now have to carry more of the load, and safety DaShawn Stone fits that description as well as anyone. With so much turnover around him, Duke needs its experienced defenders to do more than just hold the line, and Stones expanded role could end up being one of the clearest indicators of whether this roster reset is moving in the right direction. [Read more 🡒]