Lake Forest College men's tennis player George Ciuca was announced as the 2025-26 Midwest Conference Athlete of the Year Representing Men's and Mixed Sports on Friday.
The award honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service, and leadership.
In addition, Ciuca will also be the MWC's nominee for the Division III Commissioners Association Men's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year Award, which recognizes student-athletes for the same accomplishments and attributes as the conference award. The DIIICA will announce its regional selections later this month and the national winners in September.
Ciuca was a Second Team All-MWC honoree at #3 singles and #2 doubles as a freshman before earning All-MWC accolades in singles each of the next three years and in doubles as a junior. He was voted the Foresters' Most Improved Player as a sophomore and junior and served as a team captain each of the last two seasons. Ciuca finished his career ranked second in program history with 135 overall victories, third with 70 singles wins, and fourth with 65 triumphs in doubles. In conference matches he was 39-7 in singles and doubles combined.
Successful in the classroom as well, Ciuca was an Academic All-District® selection by College Sports Communicators each of the last three seasons and is a four-time Academic All-MWC honoree and Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar Athlete. The double-major in economics (finance concentration) and data science (computer science concentration) was inducted into hi Beta Kappa, earned the John H. and Margaret Veeck Krehbiel Leadership Scholarship, and graduated summa cum laude with a 3.90 cumulative grade point average.
Ciuca has also been involved in numerous activities on campus and in the community. Among them are volunteering at Feed My Starving Children and serving on Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and as a tutor in the Colleges Quantitative Research Center.
"George has been an outstanding representative of Lake Forest College throughout his career," noted Forester Head Men's Tennis Coach Scot Reinhart. "His commitment to excellence on the court, in the classroom, and within the campus community has set a tremendous example for his teammates. George's work ethic, leadership as team captain, and competitive spirit have been instrumental to our program's success, and he is exceptionally deserving of this recognition."
Ciuca is the second consecutive Forester and third overall to be named MWC Athlete of the Year Representing Men's and Mixed Sports, joining former teammate and 2025 honoree Daniel Tulchinskiy and soccer player Joao Godoy, who was the first recipient of the award in 2021. Lake Forest has also had six student-athletes earn the honor on the women's side in volleyball player Mary Gegen (2024), softball players Josie Klein (2022) and Jenny McTague (2017), soccer players Michelle Greeneway (2016) and Becky Esrock (2014), and swimmer Becky Shaak (2013).
