14 Swimmers Selected as Conference Nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year

A total of 14 swimmers have been selected as conference nominees for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year award, the organization announced on Tuesday. The original list consisted of of 543 nominees, one student-athlete from each NCAA school who has exhausted her eligibility, who were each nominated to the conference level. Now, each conference has selected their nominee (up to 2 athletes across all sports) that will advance to the division level. At this point, the top 10 from each of the NCAA’s 3 divisions (for 30 total athletes) will be named semi-finalists for the annual award.

Athletes are nominated based on success in athletics, academics, leadership, and community service. MIT swimmer Margaret Guo won the award last year.

Among the most recognizable names on the list are former USC and San Diego State All-American Anika Apostalon, who was the Pac-12’s only nominee. The SEC named swimmers as both of their nominees for the award: 2016 NCAA Champion and two-time Elite 90 Award winner Danielle Galyer from Kentucky, and Chantal van Landeghem from Georgia are both on the list.

From other tangential sports, Stanford water polo player Maggie Steffens was also selected as a nominee. She has been on each of the alst two gold medal winning U.S. Olympic Teams, including leading the team in scoring at the 2016 Games in Rio.

Next, 9 finalists (3 from each division) will be named finalists before an awards ceremony in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 22nd that will select the NCAA Woman of the Year winner.  Then, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee chooses the ultimate winner on the basis of academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service, and leadership.

Full list of swimmers who were nominated:

Name School Conference Sport(s)
Anika Apostalon USC Pac-12 Swimming and diving
Sara Bey State University College at old Westbury Skyline Conference Cross Country, Lacrosse, Soccer, Swimming and diving, Volleyball
Caroline Conboy Hobart and William Smith Colleges LIberty League Swimming and diving
Anna Corley University of Mary Washington Capital Athletic Conference Swimming and diving
Eliana Crawford Kenyon College NCAC Swimming and diving
Jacquelyn Creitz Washington College (Maryland) Centennial Conference Rowing, Swimming and diving
Naomi Gaggi College of Staten Island CUNYAC Swimming and diving
Danielle Galyer Kentucky SEC Swimming and diving
Margaret Olock Cedar Crest College NEAC Swimming and diving, Volleyball
Meg Stanley Illinois Wesleyan University College Conference of Illinios & Wisconsin Swimming and diving
Valerie Urban Connecticut College NESCAC Swimming and diving
Chantal van Landeghem University of Georgia SEC Swimming and diving
Aerika Wieser Urbana University Mountain East Conference Swimming and diving
Blaise Wittenauer-Lee Seattle University WAC Swimming and diving
Maggie Steffens Stanford Indepedent Water polo

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Insider
7 years ago

Leah Smith?

Uberfan
7 years ago

Is Katie Ledecky a bad student?

1anda2
Reply to  Uberfan
7 years ago

She doesn’t meet this requirement: “one student-athlete from each NCAA school who has exhausted her eligibility,”

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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