MIT Swimmer Margaret Guo Named 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year

Former MIT swimmer Margaret Guo was named the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year this past weekend at a ceremony in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the first student-athlete in MIT to win this award and just the 4th from NCAA Division III to do so.

Over the summer, Guo was named one of 9 finalists for the honor, with 3 each from Division I, Division II, and Division III. Of those 9, 3 were members of their school’s swimming or diving teams, including Miami’s Kara McCormack and Kenyon’s Haley Townsend.

The NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, nominees must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored, must have completed eligibility in their primary sport and be nominated by their member school.

“I am extremely proud of Margaret and very pleased that she has received this incredible honor,” said Julie Soriero, MIT director of athletics. “Margaret’s accomplishments in and out of the pool while at MIT were unparalleled as she excelled athletically, as well as in the classroom with a perfect 5.0 GPA. She is a young woman who was able to take advantage of everything that MIT has to offer and she should be extremely proud of herself for receiving this wonderful recognition this evening.”

Guo was selected for this award from over 215,000 NCAA female student-athletes, including a record 517 nominees for the 2016 award. At MIT, she was a six-time NEWMAC All-Conference honoree, a two-time NCAA All-American and a three-time NCAA All-America Honorable Mention recipient. Graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, computer science and biological engineering with a perfect 5.0 grade point average, Guo was also the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large Athlete of the Year. An Academic All-America recipient in 2015 and 2016, she also won the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award, the NCAA Elite 90 Award and was a Rhodes finalist and Goldwater Scholar.

“For Margaret to receive this honor is a testament to how hard she worked as a student-athlete both in and out of the pool during her tremendous four years at MIT,” said Mary Frances Wagley `47 head coach Dani Korman. “To see her recognized on the national level is something that our program is very proud of and what she has been able to accomplish epitomizes everything that I want my student-athletes to be. The support from the Institute allowed Margaret to take full advantage of her opportunities at MIT and now she is taking that into her career as she continues her passion for helping others.”

Out of the pool, she completed service with Crotched Mountain and was a member of the MIT Society of Women Engineers, Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society, Tau Beta Pi Honor Society, MIT Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the MIT Association for Computing Machinery. Guo also helped lead the MIT Career Fair, was an Amgen Scholar, Griffin Lab Researcher and Keel Foundation Research and Innovation Scholar.

In addition, Guo currently holds two patent pending recognitions and is a co-author on two scholarly articles. She was also a software intern in HPI Engineering at Intuitive Surgical and earned the Intel Scholarship and the GE Women’s Network Scholarship.

Guo is the 12th swimmer to win the award since it was first handed out in 1991, and this marks the second-consecutive year in which a swimmer won.

Past Award Winners:

2015
Swimming and Diving
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
2014
Soccer
University of Notre Dame
2013
Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field
Texas Tech University
2012
Elizabeth Phillips
Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field
Washington University in St. Louis
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
2008
Nkolika Anosike
Basketball
University of Tennessee
2007
Whitney Myers
Swimming and Diving
University of Arizona
2006
Anne Bersagel
Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field
Wake Forest University
2005
Lauryn McCalley
Swimming and Diving
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
2004
Kelly Albin
Lacrosse
University of California, Davis
2003
Ashley Jo Rowatt
Swimming and Diving
Kenyon College
2002
Tanisha Silas
Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field
University of California, Davis
2001
Kimberly A. Black
Swimming and Diving
University of Georgia
2000
Kristy Kowal
Swimming and Diving
University of Georgia
1999
Jamila Demby
Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field
University of California, Davis
1998
Peggy Boutilier
Lacrosse and Field Hockey
University of Virginia
1997
Lisa Ann Coole
Swimming and Diving
University of Georgia
1996
Billie Winsett Fletcher
Volleyball
University of Nebraska
1995
Rebecca Lobo
Basketball
University of Connecticut
1994
Tanya Hughes
Indoor and OutdoorTrack and Field
University of Arizona
1993
Nnenna Lynch
Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field
Villanova University
1992
Catherine Byrne
Swimming and Diving
University of Tennessee
1991
Mary Beth Riley
Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field
Canisius College

MIT Athletics contributed to this report.

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Steve Nolan
7 years ago

At MIT, she was a six-time NEWMAC All-Conference honoree, a two-time NCAA All-American and a three-time NCAA All-America Honorable Mention recipient. Graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, computer science and biological engineering with a perfect 5.0 grade point average

Welp I just started feeling a lot worse about myself right about now. Either of those two sentences are impressive as hell on their own.

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