Kentucky’s Alexander Among 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees

581 athletes have been nominated for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, setting a new record. The award honors women who have excelled in academics, athletics, service, and leadership in college.

The nominees feature women from 20 different sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 251 from Division I, 131 from Division II and 199 from Division III. A record 170 were multisport athletes in college.

32 women from the sports of swimming & diving and water polo were nominated, many of whom hail from Division III. Among those nominated are the University of Kentucky’s Olympic Trials finalist Bridgette Alexander, 2017 ACC MVP Alexia Zevnik, of NC State, and Carnegie Mellon’s DIII NCAA A-finalist Kim Hochstedler.

To be eligible for the award, an athlete must have earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and completed eligibility in that sport.

In this round, each school was eligible to nominate female student-athletes who are graduating and have completed their eligibility. Next, each conference will select up to two conference nominees from the pooled school nominees (in sports where teams compete in a conference outside of their normal conference, there is a special pool created). Then, that list is reduced to 30 athletes – 10 from each of the NCAA’s 3 divisions

In September, 9 finalists (3 from each division) will be named, with an awards ceremony honoring the final 30 in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 28th. The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee chooses the ultimate winner.

Last year, Kenyon’s Eliana Crawford, Hobart and William Smith’s Caroline Conboy, and Georgia’s Chantal Van Landeghem represented swimming & diving in the top-30. Crawford made the top nine.

Water Polo and Swimming & Diving Nominees

Name School Sport
Bridgette Alexander University of Kentucky
Swimming & Diving
Daria Belova Fresno Pacific University
Swimming & Diving
Micaela Bouter University of Houston
Swimming & Diving
Andrea Bryson St. Cloud State University
Swimming & Diving
Joann Butkus Susquehanna University
Swimming & Diving
Emma Chard Boise State University
Swimming & Diving
Cindy Cheng Emory University
Swimming & Diving
Lindsay Hagmann Trinity University (Texas)
Swimming & Diving
Kimberly Hochstedler Carnegie Mellon University
Swimming & Diving
Wallace Layland University of Miami (Florida)
Swimming & Diving
Kelly Lennon University of Vermont
Swimming & Diving
Jing Leung Harvard University
Swimming & Diving
Natasha Lloyd Auburn University
Swimming & Diving
Michaela Matthys University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Swimming & Diving
Jessica McMillen The College of Saint Rose
Swimming & Diving
Maggie Melhorn Carson-Newman University
Swimming & Diving
Emily Niemiec Bentley University
Swimming & Diving
Meredith Sharp University of Pittsburgh
Swimming & Diving
Kaitlin Simpson Tulane University
Swimming & Diving
Maura Sticco-Ivins Wellesley College
Swimming & Diving
Meghan Thompson Lehigh University
Swimming & Diving
Addison Walkowiak Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
Swimming & Diving
Julia Wilson Kenyon College
Swimming & Diving
Kaitlin Wingert Messiah College
Swimming & Diving
Ewa Wojciechowska College of Staten Island
Swimming & Diving
Alexia Zevnik North Carolina State University
Swimming & Diving
Chloe Barr University of Hawaii, Manoa Water Polo
Brianna Daboub University of Southern California Water Polo
Kayla Fedler University of California, San Diego Water Polo
Greta Kohlmoos University of California, Davis Water Polo
Allison Loomis University of California, Irvine Water Polo
Kimberly Watson Wagner College Water Polo

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About Torrey Hart

Torrey Hart

Torrey is from Oakland, CA, and majored in media studies and American studies at Claremont McKenna College, where she swam distance freestyle for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. Outside of SwimSwam, she has bylines at Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, SB Nation, and The Student Life newspaper.

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