Amy Bilquist & Lauren Barber among 585 Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

A record 585 female college athletes have been nominated by their member schools for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

In total 37 swimmers and 3 water polo players were selected for the award. That includes Cal Tech’s Brittany Percin, who both swims and plays water polo.

Among the most recognizable names in a list of necessarily-elite athletes are:

  • Cal’s Amy Bilquist, who was the 2019 NCAA runner-up in the 100 yard backstroke. She earned Cal’s Neufeld Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest GPA among all of the school’s senior female student-athletes lat year, among numerous other honors in and out of the pool.
  • Navy’s Lauren Barber, who is a 3-time Patriot League swimmer of the Year (in addition to Rookie of the Year as a freshman) and a 3-time NCAA Championship qualifier. In 2019, she became the first Navy & Patriot League woman swimmer to score at the NCAA Championships when she placed 16th in thee 200 breaststroke at NCAAs. She was also a perfect 12-for-12 in individual titles and 16-for-16 in relay titles at the Patriot League Championships.
  • Bryant’s Jillian Rice, the 2019 NEC Swimmer of the Meet, NEC Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year, and Bryant Athletics Female Athlete of the Year.
  • Texas A&M’s Lisa Bratton, who is a 15-time All-American and 2018 Short Course World Champion. She carried a 3.671 GPA overall in her undergraduate career and a 3.904 GPA in her major of ocean engineering. arlier this year, she was awarded a $10,000 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and received a prestigious $10,000 H. Boyd McWhorter Postgraduate Scholarship from the Southeastern Conference. The Richland, Wash. native was also named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for swimming and diving and the Bill Erwin Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2018. She is pursuing her master’s degree in ocean engineering while training for the 2020 Olympic Games.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.
  • Arizona 7-time NCAA All-American Katrinka Konopka.

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 20th. The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee chooses the ultimate winner.

Full List of  Swimmers, Divers, and Water Polo Players Nominated:

First Last School Division Conference Sport(s)
Lauren Barber U.S. Naval Academy Division I Patriot League
Swimming and Diving
Amy Bilquist University of California, Berkeley Division I Pac-12 Conference
Swimming and Diving
Lisa Bratton Texas A&M University, College Station Division I Southeastern Conference
Swimming and Diving
Katherine Brown University of North Carolina Asheville Division I Coastal Collegiate Sports Association
Swimming and Diving
Mary Kate (MK) Clancy University of San Diego Division I West Coast Conference
Swimming and Diving
Anelise Diener University of Texas at Austin Division I Big 12 Conference
Swimming and Diving
Colleen Doolan Tufts University Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference
Swimming and Diving
Katlynn Emaus Oakland University Division I Horizon League
Swimming and Diving
Vasiliki Falaina University of Arkansas at Little Rock Division I Missouri Valley Conference
Swimming and Diving
Alicia Finnigan Liberty University Division I Coastal Collegiate Sports Association
Swimming and Diving
Esther Gonzalez Medina Texas A&M University, College Station Division I Southeastern Conference
Swimming and Diving
Courtney Elizabeth Jones Stevens Institute of Technology Division III Empire 8
Swimming and Diving
Kassie Kometani Lewis & Clark College Division III Northwest Conference
Swimming and Diving
Katrina Konopka University of Arizona Division I Pac-12 Conference
Swimming and Diving
Reeve Lanigan Lafayette College Division I Patriot League
Swimming and Diving
Morgan Leishman Mills College Division III Independent
Swimming and Diving
Kiley Lin Willamette University Division III Northwest Conference
Swimming and Diving
Allison Loomis University of California, Irvine Division I Big West Conference Water Polo
Josefina Lorda Taylor Queens University of Charlotte Division II South Atlantic Conference
Swimming and Diving
Taylor Martinek Hamline University Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Swimming and Diving
Hannah Moore North Carolina State University Division I Atlantic Coast Conference
Swimming and Diving
Fiona Muir Emory University Division III University Athletic Association
Swimming and Diving
Rebecca Murray University of Nevada, Reno Division I Mountain West Conference
Swimming and Diving
Hannah Orbach-Mandel Kenyon College Division III North Coast Athletic Conference
Swimming and Diving
Mar Pastor Alvarez Azusa Pacific University Division II Golden Coast Conference Water Polo
Devon Peal Sarah Lawrence College Division III Skyline Conference
Swimming and Diving
Brittany Percin California Institute of Technology Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conf.
Swimming and Diving, Water Polo
Brooke Pettis Binghamton University Division I America East Conference
Swimming and Diving
Jillian Rice Bryant University Division I Northeast Conference
Swimming and Diving
Sarah Russell Converse College Division II Conference Carolinas
Swimming and Diving
Christina Sather Clarion University of Pennsylvania Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
Swimming and Diving
Corrin Van Lanen Ohio University Division I Mid-American Conference
Swimming and Diving
Franziska Weidner University of Hawaii, Manoa Division I Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Swimming and Diving
Madalyn Weinberger Frostburg State University Division III Capital Athletic Conference Inc.
Swimming and Diving
Evelyn Claire Williams College of William & Mary Division I Colonial Athletic Association
Swimming and Diving
Emily Wilson Towson University Division I Colonial Athletic Association
Swimming and Diving
Emily Zhang George Washington University Division I Atlantic 10 Conference
Swimming and Diving

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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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