16 Swimming & Divers Among Conference Finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year

A total of 16 swimmers and divers have been selected from their respective conferences as nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Earlier this month, 577 athletes were nominated from each of their respective schools for this award. Out of this 577, 30 of those athletes were nominated from a sport in which their primary conference does not sponsor, or they competed for an independent school. From the remaining 547, each conference selected at least one athlete. Conferences were allowed to select an additional athlete if at least one of the two athletes were either an international student-athlete or a woman of color.

Down from the original 547 student-athletes, 151 athletes now remain. The other 30 athletes will be narrowed down to five athletes by a committee on August 4th leaving 156 athletes remaining.

In the original 577 athletes, 46 were swimmers and divers, including five swimmers or divers that fell into the small category of 30 athletes not yet narrowed down. Now, from the 547 athletes which included 41 swimmers and divers, only 16 swimmers and divers remain.

In October, the Woman of the Year Selection Committee will narrow the list to 30 athletes including 10 athletes from each division. Then, the 30 women will be narrowed down to nine finalists consisting of three from each division. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will vote from the nine finalists and the winner will be announced in January 2023.

Notably, three conferences selected two swimming and diving athletes as their nominees. The Horizon League selected Susan LaGrand of Oakland University and Cydney Liebenberg of University of Illinois Chicago. The Pac-12 selected Brooke Forde of Stanford and Emma Nordin of Arizona State. The Sunshine State Conference selected Savannah Brennan of Florida Institute of Technology and Grace Sill of Florida Southern.

The 16 swimmers and divers selected by their conferences are:

The five swimmers and divers among the 30 athletes yet to be narrowed down are:

The full list of 151 remaining athletes are: