Kiara Reinhardt Earns Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award

NEW YORK – Former Creighton volleyball star Kiara Reinhardt and DePaul outdoor track & field standout Alex Bernstein have been chosen as the winners of the 2025-26 BIG EAST Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award, as selected by the BIG EAST Conference Academic Affairs Committee.

The awards are given to one male and one female student-athlete from a BIG EAST-sponsored sport who have been admitted to a degree-granting or professional program for the following academic year and who have demonstrated leadership through excellence in academic credentials, athletic performance and depth of commitment to service within the institution or the community.

Reinhardt and Bernstein will each receive a $5,000 scholarship, which may be applied to postgraduate study. The award is named for Michael Tranghese, the BIG EAST's first full-time employee who served as commissioner of the conference from 1990 to 2009 and embodied leadership and dedication from the league's inception.

A native of Cedarburg, Wis., Reinhardt led all players in BIG EAST with a school-record .447 hitting percentage in 2025, which ranked sixth nationally. The two-time All-BIG EAST selection and AVCA Second Team All-American in 2025 finished her career as the winningest player in program history and was third in career hitting percentage as well as fourth in career blocks. A Nursing major, Reinhardt was a three-time Academic All-District choice (2022, 2024, 2025), Reinhardt was named a First Team Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators, one of three volleyball players and one of 16 student-athletes in any Creighton sport to ever earn First Team Academic All-American honors. Reinhardt now plays professionally for the Omaha Supernovas in Major League Volleyball, where she won the league's Rising Star Award in May following her rookie campaign.

Reinhardt's recognition makes her Creighton's fourth student-athlete to ever receive the Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award, joining Brittany Witt (volleyball) in 2021, Taryn Kloth (volleyball) in 2019, Harrison Lang (men's tennis) in 2017.

Below is a list of the historic winners of the Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership award. In 2020, the awards were not given out due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award
2026
Alex Bernstein, DePaul, Outdoor Track & Field
Kiara Reinhardt, Creighton, Volleyball

2025
Sean Vizzard, Seton Hall, Swimming and Diving
Anna Pierce, Butler, Women's Soccer

2024
Joshua Paige, Georgetown, Track & Field
Josephine McCartney, Seton Hall, Swimming and Diving

2023
Marcelo Rocha, Providence, Cross Country and Track & Field
Abigail Wingo, Seton Hall, Softball

2022
Thomas Staes, Seton Hall, Swimming and Diving
Milly Routledge, Villanova, Swimming and Diving

2021
Liam Cosgrove, Seton Hall, Swimming and Diving
Brittany Witt, Creighton, Volleyball

2019
Kyle Decker, DePaul, Track & Field
Taryn Kloth, Creighton, Volleyball

2018
Alex Wolfred, Xavier, Swimming
Carly Alfano, Xavier, Women's Soccer

2017
Harrison Lang, Creighton, Men's Tennis
Caroline Hamilton, Villanova, Track & Field

2016
Zachary Mueck, Xavier, Men's Tennis
Emily Cubbage, St. John's, Women's Soccer

2015
Shawn Heide, St. John's, Baseball
Shelby Manthorpe, Seton Hall, Volleyball

2014
James Roebker, Xavier, Tennis
Chloe Sher, Seton Hall, Tennis

2013
Michael Moore, Notre Dame, Tennis
Kaci Madden, Rutgers, Softball

2012
Benjamin Forrest, Rutgers, Cross Country/Track & Field
Allison Schroeder, Notre Dame, Cross Country/Track & Field

2011
Tyler Davis, Notre Dame, Tennis
Amy Zhang, Rutgers, Tennis

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Kiara Reinhardt Earns Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award

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