SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 16, 2026) – Western New England men's basketball's Avery Mickens and WNE women's swimming's Ella Smith pick up honors this week as Golden Bear Athletes of the Week following their performances on the court and in the pool that led to team success. 

Mickens opened the week with 17 points to lead the Golden Bears to an 89-63 home victory over Roger Williams University. Mickens shot 7/17 from the field, connecting on a pair of triples, while grabbing two rebounds and an assist in the win. Mickens then assisted the Golden Bears to a dominant Conference of New England victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology, scoring 19 points on 7/13 shooting, going 5/8 from the outside while picking up three rebounds, two steals, and an assist in an 80-48 win over the Leopards. Mickens is one of three Golden Bears averaging over ten points per game, while leading the Blue and Gold in three-point shooting on the year, hitting at a near 37% clip. The Newington, Connecticut, native has scored double digits in each of his last three games and seven of his last nine. Mickens and the Golden Bears return to the floor this coming Tuesday, February 17, at 7:30 PM, hosting Nichols College in the final home game of the regular season.

Senior Ella Smith took gold in all individual events raced this past weekend at the Little East Conference Championships, leading Western New England to a seventh-place finish at the event. Smith broke her own record from last season in the 200-Yard IM, finishing the finals race in 2:07.23, three seconds faster than the meet record from a season ago. Smith's mark is also a new program record. The Chicopee, Massachusetts, native took the event record in the 400-Yard IM, coming in with a 4:33.95 time in the preliminary round and a 4:35.57 in the finals, both of which broke the meet record all-time. Smith's final first-place event, another program and meet record, came in the 200-Yard Breaststroke, finishing the event in 2:23.14, breaking her 2:24.61 swim from last season to rewrite the school and program records. Smith also helped WNE with a pair of program records in relay races, with the team taking second in the 400-Yard Medley Relay in 4:09.16, and the 800-Yard Freestyle Relay, an 8:18.89 finish, taking second in the race and breaking an 11-year-old record in the program's history.