Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior Annika Naveen has been awarded the Elite 90 Award for the Division III Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
The award, first presented during the 2009-10 academic year, is given annually to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average who competes at the respective NCAA Championships in the sport. Eligibility requires that athletes must have been a member of their team for at least two years and be an active participant at the championship competition.
Naveen, a Biological Engineering major who carries a 4.0 grade point average, is the second Elite 90 Award winner in the program’s history and the first in over a decade. She joins Margaret Guo, who won the award in the 2014–15 season.
This week, Naveen competed in the 50 free (23.37), 100 free (50.90), and 100 back (56.76) and reached the consolation finals in both sprint freestyles, touching 14th in each. She also appeared on three of MIT’s sprint relays, anchoring the fifth-place 400 free relay in 50.11 and the seventh-place 200 free relay in 22.53, while splitting 23.92 on the fly leg of the 200 medley relay, which finished 15th. She contributed six of MIT’s 225 points and ranked sixth among the team’s 17 swimmers as the Engineers finished sixth in the team standings.
The meet caps a decorated four-year career in which Naveen has contributed since day one. As a freshman, she split 23.29 on the seventh-place 200 free relay while placing 31st in the 50 free (23.72), 25th in the 100 back (56.86), and 42nd in the 100 free (52.44). During her sophomore season, she dropped to 36th in the 50 free (23.86) and 42nd in the 100 back (59.45), but contributed a 24.36 fly split on a victorious 200 medley relay and a 23.39 anchor on the sixth-place 200 free relay.
Naveen arguably had the greatest meet of her career last year, as she finished third in the 100 free (49.95), fourth in the 50 free (22.89), and 16th in the 100 back (56.83), recording her current sprint freestyle bests. She also anchored the 200 free relay title in 22.24 and provided a 23.88 fly split on the 200 medley relay. Those performances proved pivotal in MIT’s historic team championship, when the Engineers became the fifth Division III women’s program to claim the national title and the first since 1984 not named Kenyon, Denison, or Emory.
ALL-TIME WINNERS, ELITE 90 AWARD, NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING:
| Year | Winner | School | Conference |
| 2025 | Abigail Wilkov | Case Western Reserve University | University Athletic Association |
| 2024 | Eleanor McGrath | Colby College | New England Small College Athletic Conference |
| 2023 | Alexandra Turvey | Pomona-Pitzer Colleges | Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conf. |
| 2022 | Clio Hancock | Emory University | University Athletic Association |
| 2019 | Mikayla Bisignani | Johns Hopkins University | Centennial Conference |
| 2018 | Kaitlin Wingert | Messiah University | Middle Atlantic Conferences |
| 2017 | Kaitlin Wingert | Messiah University | Middle Atlantic Conferences |
| 2016 | Rachel Treadway | University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire | Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
| 2015 | Margaret Guo | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference |
| 2014 | Haley Townsend | Kenyon College | North Coast Athletic Conference |
| 2013 | Alex Ladd | Johns Hopkins University | Centennial Conference |
| 2012 | Chelsea Wiese | Hope College | Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
| 2011 | Tessa Dover | Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges | Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conf. |
| 2010 | Tessa Dover | Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges | Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conf. |
*2020 and 2021 did not have Elite 90 recipients, as those NCAA meets were canceled due to COVID-19.
MIT grades on a 5.0 scale though
I’m Elite 90% positive that this award is on a 4.0 sclae.
4.0 in Bio Engineering at MIT while competing is one hell of an accomplishment. Congrats!
this is incredible! Especially the fact she’s engineering at MIT!! props!
Congrats to Annika, what an incredible achievement for an incredible individual!
4.0 like a B average or A average 🤔
Jealous much?
no I’m just wondering if it’s a 4.0 or a 5.0
A average is 4.0, to my knowledge a 5.0 occurs with A’s in weighted classes. However in college they’re all equal weights? I think weights only apply to high school classes (think taking AP chem vs. regular chem)
MIT’s GPA is out of a 5.0, so I think that’s where OP is coming from
The downvotes on this comment are glorious.