ODESSA, Texas (June 22, 2026) – Thanks to the generosity and support of Edgardo Madrid & Associates, The University of Texas Permian Basin Athletics Department has announced Will Tate (Men's Golf) and Jessica Cantrell (Softball) as the 2025-26 Edgardo Madrid & Associates Student-Athletes of the Year.

Sponsored by Edgardo Madrid & Associates, UTPB Athletics recognized one male and one female student-athlete during each month of the 2025-26 academic year as Student-Athletes of the Month. At the conclusion of the 2025-26 athletics season, one male and one female student-athlete were selected as UTPB's Student-Athletes of the Year.

Will Tate – 2025-26 Edgardo Madrid & Associates Men's Student-Athlete of the Year
Tate, a senior from Reading, England, was named an Edgardo Madrid & Associates Student-Athlete of the Month three times this year (September, March, April) for the UTPB men's golf team. Tate was also named the 2024-25 Edgardo Madrid & Associates Men's Student-Athlete of the Year after winning Edgardo Madrid & Associates Student-Athlete of the Month three times (October, March, April).

Following an outstanding senior season, Tate became just the second Falcon in program history to earn All-Region and All-American (Third-Team) honors, be named First-Team All-Lone Star Conference, and earn two All-LSC certificates in their career. He was also the first UTPB golfer with two top-five finishes (All-Tournament honors) in their career at the LSC Tournament. Additionally, he broke UTPB's three-round scoring record (203) and earned his second career win, ranking him second all-time at UTPB in wins.

Tate played in all 11 tournaments and 32 rounds for the second year in a row, posted a 70.7 adjusted scoring average, and finished the season with an NCAA Division II National Ranking of No. 28 and a ranking of No. 5 in the South Central Region. He won one tournament (Midwestern State Invitational), totaled nine top-10 finishes, and finished top-25 in all 11 tournaments. He also finished in the top-10 in all seven tournaments in the Spring, including the LSC Championship and the NCAA Regional Championship. In addition, he finished under-par in five tournaments this season, including a score of 10-under in each of the last two tournaments heading into the postseason.

Tate was named UTPB's Men's Student-Athlete of the Month for September after putting together a top-10 finish in the Falcons' season opener at the DII Shootout at PGA Riviera Maya. Tate (72-71-81; 224; +8) led the tournament by two strokes entering the final round, but fell back six spots during the final round and ultimately tied for seventh place.

Tate closed his career with a four-tournament stretch for the record books. Tate was named UTPB's Men's Student-Athlete of the Month for March after leading UTPB during all three of its tournaments in the month and finishing in the top-10 during each of those tournaments. The highlight of the month came at the Midwestern State Invitational as both UTPB and Tate (individual medalist) led wire-to-wire. UTPB finished two-under as a team (284-277-289; 850) while Tate was 10-under (67-68-68; 203) and successfully defended his Midwestern State Invitational title from 2025. With a three-round score of 203, Tate's score is a new program record by one stroke. In addition, with two individual championships now in his career, Tate ranks second all-time in wins at UTPB. Tate was named the LSC Men's Golfer of the Week for the third time in the last two seasons after the Midwestern State Invite. During the rest of the month, Tate tied for ninth place at the Shadow Valley Invitational (74-71-74; 219; +3), and tied for sixth place at the Oak Tree Invitational (69-77; 146; +6).

Tate was named UTPB's Men's Student-Athlete of the Month for April after putting together a top-five finish while leading the Falcons at both the Palm Valley Classic and the LSC Championship. At the Palm Valley Classic, Tate (69-68-69; 206) shot under-par during all three rounds and tied for fifth place out of 108 golfers at 10-under (second tournament in a row finishing 10-under). In addition, Tate's three-round score of 206 was tied for the fourth-lowest score in program history. Then at the LSC Championship, Tate (77-69-72; 218; +2) finished in third place after shooting plus-two and became the first UTPB golfer with two top-five finishes (All-Tournament honors) in their career at the conference tournament. Tate's effort at the LSC Championship helped UTPB men's golf qualify for the NCAA Regional field as the No. 5 Seed.

Lastly at the Regional Championship, Tate (73-69-73; 215) led the Falcons and totaled one-under to finish in 10th place. In the end, Tate missed a spot in the NCAA Championships by two strokes. Tate's 10th-place finish was the third-best among all UTPB players at the regional championship while his one-under tied for the third-lowest par-score in program history at the championship.

UTPB's Head Golf Coach Paul Chavez said, "Another tremendous honor for Will. This is becoming a common occurrence. Anytime you have a great season, it shall be recognized. Congratulations to Will on a tremendous senior season."

Jessica Cantrell – 2025-26 Edgardo Madrid & Associates Women's Student-Athlete of the Year
Cantrell, a sophomore right-handed pitcher from Elgin, Texas, was named an Edgardo Madrid & Associates Student-Athlete of the Month two times this year (February, April) for the UTPB softball team.

Cantrell was 12-11 in 22 starts and 27 appearances in the circle this season. She started in 29 of 34 games overall, including seven starts at designated player. She finished second in the LSC with 16 complete games and threw four shutouts. She allowed a 3.41 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, 151 hits, 95 total runs, 72 earned runs, 34 walks, 140 strikeouts, and a .259 opponents' batting average in 148.0 innings pitched. She led the Falcons in every pitching category, including ERA, WHIP, wins, starts, appearances, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, and strikeouts.

Offensively, Cantrell hit .179 with six runs, 12 hits, one double, four home runs, eight RBI's, 25 total bases, six walks, two hit by pitches, a .267 on-base percentage and a .373 slugging percentage in 67 at bats. She was also tied for first on the team in home runs.

As a pitcher in the LSC, she ranked fourth in strikeouts (ninth in strikeouts looking, 21), sixth in innings pitched, 12th in wins, 14th in opposing batting average, and 15th in ERA. She pitched 10 innings in two games (2/27 vs. TAMUK & 3/39 vs. TAMIU), the most innings pitched in a single game in the LSC this season. She also led the LSC this year with 14 batters struck out in one game (3/29 vs. TAMIU), and struck out double-digit batters in four games overall.

Cantrell was named UTPB's Edgardo Madrid & Associates Women's Student-Athlete of the Month for February after going 5-1 with five complete games, two shutouts, 55 strikeouts (7.97 K/9), a 1.74 ERA and a .99 WHIP during the first month of the season. In all, she allowed 34 hits, 12 runs and 14 walks in 48.1 innings. Cantrell led the Falcons in starts, wins, complete games, inning pitched, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP during the month, and had at least one win in each of the first four weekends of the season. Cantrell also led the conference in ERA (1.74) and was second in opponents' batting average (1.92) and third in strikeouts (55) during the opening month. As impressive as she was pitching, Cantrell also contributed offensively. In eight games and 24 at bats during the month, she totaled eight hits, five RBI's, three runs scored, two home runs and two walks. She hit .333 with a .385 on-base percentage and a .583 slugging percentage. Most importantly, Cantrell led the Falcons to a 9-6 overall record during the first month of the season, including marks of 5-1 at home and 2-4 in the LSC. In all, the Falcons began the season 7-2, marking their best start to a season in program history since at least 2011.

Cantrell began her season with a four-hit, complete-game shutout featuring 10 strikeouts in a 4-0 season-opening victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Cantrell then tossed her second complete game in as many days and allowed eight hits, one run and two walks while striking out a career-high 12 batters in a 10-1 win over Adams State University. In all during opening weekend, Cantrell was 2-0 with two completes games, one shutout, a 0.72 ERA and 25 strikeouts across 19.1 innings. In UTPB's home opener, Cantrell struck out nine batters and allowed just three hits in a 5-1 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Cantrell helped UTPB close out its first weekend of LSC action with a 2-0 shutout win – her fourth complete game and second shutout of the season – in game one at Midwestern State University. It was the Falcons' first road conference win since April 21, 2023, at Texas A&M International University. Lastly, in UTPB's first home conference game of the season, Cantrell pitched all 10 innings and allowed three hits, one run, two walks and six strikeouts in a 2-1 extra-inning win over Texas A&M University-Kingsville. It was the first win for UTPB against TAMUK since March 4, 2017.

Cantrell was also named UTPB's Edgardo Madrid & Associates Women's Student-Athlete of the Month for April after going 5-3 with five complete games, two shutouts and a 3.04 ERA during the month. In all, she allowed 50 hits and 29 runs, and struck out 36 batters while walking only eight in 50.2 innings. Cantrell pitched a complete game during all four weekends of the month and helped UTPB win at least one game in five straight series (No. 12 Angelo State University, Sul Ross State University, Western New Mexico University, St. Edward's University, Midwestern State University), picking up a win in each of those series. Offensively, two of Cantrell's three hits during the month went for a home run (.529 SLG).

Cantrell's list of highlights in April was long. Cantrell led UTPB to its first-ever win against Angelo State in San Angelo (won game two 3-2). It was the Falcons' first nationally-ranked win since April 22, 2022. Cantrell threw exactly 100 pitches and allowed six hits and two runs while not issuing a single walk against the Rambelles. It was arguably the biggest win of her career so far. Cantrell was then the winning pitcher when UTPB surpassed its win total in LSC play from each of the last two seasons (5th LSC win of the season) in a 4-0 game-one win vs. Sul Ross. The win against the Lobos not only saw Cantrell shine in the circle with a two-hit, one-walk shutout, but also at the plate as she aided her own cause with a solo home run in the fifth inning. She struck out seven Lobos, threw 95 pitchers, and took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. The only other previous batter to reach against her was via a two-out walk in the second inning. Cantrell tossed four 1-2-3 innings and faced 24 batters against SRSU, just three over the minimum. Lastly, Cantrell pitched a one-hit shutout to help UTPB break the previous program record of eight LSC wins set in 2022, earning the record-tying win in an 8-0 game-one win vs. Midwestern State. Cantrell also threw the first of UTPB's first back-to-back shutouts in LSC action in program history vs. MSU, while her game-one win vs. MSU was UTPB's first run-rule win in LSC play since March 2022. Cantrell was nine-up, nine-down through three perfect innings, but a bunt single to lead off the top of the fourth inning was the Mustangs' lone baserunner of the game. Cantrell ended the game just as she started it, with nine straight outs, finishing the contest with a line of one hit, no runs and no walks against her.

A chemistry major, Cantrell was named to the 2025-26 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® Team, and she has been named to the Dean's List and the LSC Commissioner's Honor Roll in each of her first four semesters (Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026) at UTPB.

UTPB's Head Softball Coach David Martinez said, "Jessica's growth from a steady freshman to a dominant, anchor presence for our softball program has been incredible to watch. Leading the team in the circle, tying for the team lead in home runs, and maintaining a high GPA in chemistry demonstrates a rare and elite standard of excellence. She embodies everything this award stands for."