9 Swimmers and Divers Among NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees

Nine swimmers and divers, along with one water polo player, were nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. 

The award, which has been presented annually since 1991, recognizes “graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their NCAA eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.” 

Each NCAA member school nominates one female athlete for the award. The nominees are then reviewed at the conference level, with each conference selecting one nominee to submit to the national level. All conferences are eligible to submit two nominees if at least one of those nominees is a student of color, or an international student-athlete. 

After all submissions are received from the NCAA conferences, the Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, selects 30 semi-finalists for the award — 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions. That field will then be narrowed down to nine candidates for the award, with the winner selected by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics. 

This year, nominees were selected across 18 different sports, with 58 nominees who competed in Division I, 36 who competed in Division II and 60 in Division III. 

Amongst those nominated were swimmer Abigail Knapton, who recently announced that she would use her 5th year of eligibility at Nebraska. The NCAA First-Team All-American diver was named the Nebraska Female Athlete of the year in 2021. Named the Big Ten diver of the meet at the 2021 Big Ten Championships, Knapton won both the 1-meter and platform diving events at the championships. She represented to US internationally at the 2019 World University Games. 

With Knapton’s announcement that she will be utilizing her additional 5th year of eligibility and transferring to Rutgers University, it appears as though the NCAA is considering a senior athlete to be any athlete who completed the traditional 4-year eligibility cycle. 

Another notable swimming nominee is Mikayla Bisignani from Johns Hopkins University. An NCAA Division III national championships qualifier in swimming, Bisignani also participated individually in the 2019 National Track and Field Championships. Due to both her academic and athletic success, Bisignani was named the 2021 CoSIDA At-Large Academic All-American of the Year. 

Kentucky swimmer Asia Seidt was the winner of the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. With her win, Seidt became one of 13 swimmers to have won the award. Last year, 11 swimmers, including Seidt, were nominated by their conferences.

PAST SWIMMING AWARD WINNERS, NCAA WOMAN OF THE YEAR WINNERS – SWIMMING & DIVING

2020 

Asia Seidt 

Swimming and Diving 

University of Kentucky 

2016

Margaret Guo

Swimming and Diving

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2015

Kristin Day

Swimming and Diving

Clarion University of Pennsylvania

2011

Laura Barito

Swimming and Diving, Outdoor Track and Field

Stevens Institute of Technology

2010

Justine Schluntz

Swimming and Diving

University of Arizona

2009

Lacey Nymeyer

Swimming and Diving

University of Arizona

2007

Whitney Myers

Swimming and Diving

University of Arizona

2005

Lauryn McCalley

Swimming and Diving

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

2003

Ashley Jo Rowatt

Swimming and Diving

Kenyon College

2001

Kimberly A. Black

Swimming and Diving

University of Georgia

2000

Kristy Kowal

Swimming and Diving

University of Georgia

1997

Lisa Ann Coole

Swimming and Diving

University of Georgia

1992

Catherine Byrne

Swimming and Diving

University of Tennessee

Aquatics Nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year 

Full Conference Nominee List