A pair of swimmers, Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks and Virginia’s Kate Douglass, have been named semi-finalists for the 2023 AAU James E. Sullivan Award, along with Stanford and Team USA water polo player Aria Fischer. This year is the 93rd edition of the annual award.
The honor is given annually to the top ‘amateur’ athlete in the US every year, with the definition of ‘amateur’ being used very loosely to describe collegiate athletes and those whose sport typically peaks at the Olympic Games.
They are among 24 semi-finalists for the award, a list that will be whittled to 6 via a public vote. Fans can vote once a day for their choice between now and 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 19.
This year’s winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, September 19 at the historic New York Athletic Club (NYAC) – the birthplace of the AAU.
- Kate Douglass, who finished her last year of college swimming at Virginia earlier this year, won 7 NCAA titles in March, including 3 individually in new NCAA Records. She also won a pair of US National Championships in the 100 free and 200 IM and also qualified for the US team for the World Championships in the 200 breast.
- Jordan Crooks, a dual citizen of the Cayman Islands and the US who represents the former internationally, had a breakthrough sophomore season at Tennessee, where he won the NCAA title in the 50 free in 18.32 and was the Short Course World Champion in the same event. At the SEC Championships, he won the 50 yard free in 17.93, making him just the 2nd man behind Caeleb Dressel to go under 18 seconds in that event.
- Aria Fischer was named the 2023 Cutino Award winner as the top female collegiate water polo player after leading Stanford to its record 9th NCAA title. At 24, Fischer also already has two Olympic gold medals (2016, 2020) and two World Championship gold medals (2017, 2019), though she wasn’t on the team that won gold last year in Budapest.
Aside from the three aquatic athletes, notable entries include NCAA women’s basketball’s biggest rivalry Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, track superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone, and breakthrough LBGA tour star Rose Zhang.
The winner of the 93rd AAU Sullivan Award will join a renowned list of recipients. Last year, Olympian Carissa Moore won, becoming the first surfer to take home the honor. Other prior winners include Michael Phelps (swimming), Michelle Kwan (figure skating), Carl Lewis (track & field), Shawn Johnson (gymnastics), Peyton Manning (football), and Breanna Stewart (basketball).
- Amit Elor, Wrestling, USA Wrestling
- Anastasija Zolotic, Taekwondo, USA Taekwondo
- Angel Reese, Basketball, LSU
- Aria Fischer, Water Polo, USA Water Polo / Stanford
- Brock Bowers, Football, University of Georgia
- Caitlin Clark, Basketball, University of Iowa
- Caleb Williams, Football, University of Southern California
- Devon Witherspoon, Football, University of Illinois
- Dylan Crews, Baseball, USA Baseball / LSU
- Gordon Sargent, Golf, Vanderbilt University
- Jessie Diggins, Cross-Country Skiing, U.S. Ski and Snowboard
- Jordan Chiles, Gymnastics, USA Gymnastics / UCLA
- Jordan Crooks, Swimming, University of Tennessee
- Jordan Stolz, Speed Skating, U.S. Speed Skating
- Kate Douglass, Swimming, USA Swimming / University of Virginia
- Logan Eggleston, Volleyball, University of Texas
- Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Figure Skating, U.S. Figure Skating
- Maya Brady, Softball, UCLA
- Mykolas Alekna, Track and Field, University of California, Berkeley
- Rose Zhang, Golf, Stanford
- Sakura Kokumai, Karate, USA Karate
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Track and Field, USA Track and Field
- Ta’Niya Latson, Basketball, Florida State University
- Zach Edey, Basketball, Purdue University
Past AAU Sullivan Award Winners, Swimmers
- 1944: Ann Curtis
- 1964: Don Schollander
- 1968: Debbie Meyer
- 1970: John Kinsella
- 1971: Mark Spitz
- 1975: Tim Shaw
- 1977: John Naber
- 1978: Tracy Caulkins
- 1989: Janet Evans
- 2003: Michael Phelps
- 2006: Jessica Long
- 2012: Missy Franklin
- 2021: Caeleb Dressel (co-recipient with gymnastics’ Simone Biles)
as a whole, Dougie is my fav female swimmer. She is oddly versatile, cool, calm, and collected, intelligent, drama free, and is a closer in her races, which is really exciting. She doesn’t react like a nut job when she wins (not that that’s a bad thing) but slyly smiles and clearly shows she’s pleased. She exudes coolness unlike many of them.
She seems to be the ultimate team player and I feel like the pride of representing UVA (and now the US international team) is evident when she is interviewed and in her swims. She seems to be well-liked by her teammates, even from rival schools and that speaks volumes about her character. I like people that are… Read more »
Hard to beat Syndey McLaughlin-Levrone. She smashed the 400-meter hurdle world record a few times last year and currently has the top 400-meter flat time in the world, nearly breaking the 17-year-old American record.
True, and for the UVA haters on here, she’s married to Andre Levrone, former UVA football player.
I’ll vote Kate, but I agree Sydney is a shoe-in. She’s so consistent and dominant…rapidly becoming a household name in my opinion.
Sub 48 from Syd this year 👀👀👀
How do I vote? jk found it.
Yea Kate!
I’m voting every day for her
Swimmers and water polo stars,
Sullivan Award shines.
Kate, Jordan, Aria.
Wow, how could Leon not be on that list!
Does Leon not qualify?
He should, but not sure why Crooks was chosen over him.
Are grades factored in? Community activities?
No non American has ever won this award I think.
Does dual citizenship count for anything?
John Urschel was born in Canada.
Crooks isn’t American either unless he has a dual citizenship that we don’t know about (possible)
He does have dual citizenship.