Zevnik, Lloyd Nominated by Conferences for Woman of the Year

5 swimmers, 1 diver, and 1 water polo player have been nominated by their conferences for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year honor. The award honors women who have excelled in academics, athletics, service, and leadership in college.

This number is much lower than last year, where 14 swimmers (and 1 water polo player) advanced to this stage of selection.

In the 2nd round of nominations, after each NCAA member institution had the opportunity to put forward one female student-athletes, each conference was tasked with narrowing their members nominations to 2. That reduced the field from 581 to 154. The next step will be to name the Top 30 in September (3 from each Division of the NCAA, then narrowed to 9 finalists (3 from each Division) in  early October. The top 30 will be honored at an awards banquet in October 28th in Indianapolis, which includes a weekend of service for those nominees in attendance.

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.

Among the 7 aquatic athletes put forward for the honor by their conferences is Julia Wilson, already the recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate scholarship. At Kenyon, she was a 16-time NCAA Division III All-American with 12 top-5 finishes at the NCAA Division III Championships. She is both Kenyon’s and the North Coast Athletic Conference’s record-holder in the 100 and 200 yard breaststrokes. This is the 3rd-straight year in which the NCAC has nominated a Kenyon swimmer for this award.

Another standout on the list is Alexia Zevnik from NC State. Completing her NCAA career after the 2016-2017 season, the Canadian has 12 Division I All-America honors and 7 ACC event titles. She won 5 of those titles as a senior, with a sweep of her individual events (100 back, 20 back, 200 IM), plus two relay wins. She was the runner-up in the 200 back at the 2017 NCAA Championships. She was also named the 2017 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, 2017 ACC Most Valuable Swimmer, and is a two-time Short Course World Champion representing Canada.

Zevnik’s fellow Commonwealther, Natasha Lloyd of New Zealand, is also nominated. She was a two-time All-American at Auburn.

Aquatic athletes nominated by their conferences are below, with the full list of 2018 conference nominees thereafter.

Kaitlin Wingert of Messiah College was the NCAA Division III Elite 90 Award winner, as the swimmer-or-diver at the 2017 NCAA Championships with the highest GPA. in 2017 became her school’s first-ever swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships., and was named the MAC Conference Swimmer of the Year in both 2017 as a junior and 2018 as a senior.

• Jing Leung, Harvard, diving
• Natasha Lloyd, Auburn, swimming
• Julia Wilson, Kenyon, swimming
• Kaitlin Wingert, Messiah College, swimming
• Ewa Wojciechowska, College of Staten Island, swimming
• Alexia Zevnik, NC State, swimming
• Chloe Barr, Hawaii – Manoa, Water Polo