Five-time NCAA champion Brooke Forde of Stanford was announced as the recipient of the 2023 NCAA Today’s Top 10 Award on Dec. 5th. The NCAA Honors Committee recognized Forde and nine other recent student-athletes for their outstanding achievements as athletes, students, and contributors to their campuses and communities.
The 2023 NCAA Today’s Top 10 awardees are Sylvie Binder (fencing), Columbia; Jaeda Daniel (tennis), NC State; Brooke Forde (swimming), Stanford; Naomi Girma (soccer), Stanford; Gianna Glatz (field hockey), Rutgers; Blaine Hawkins (football), Central (Iowa); Jessica Meakim (gymnastics), West Chester; Jack Mulvihill (lacrosse), St. John Fisher; Juan Ortiz Couder (tennis), Embry-Riddle (Florida); and Abby Steiner (track), Kentucky.
Forde was also selected as a finalist for the 2022 NCAA Women of the Year Award on Nov. 10th. She is among the nine nominees considered for the prestigious award, which will be given to the winner at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio on Jan. 12th.
Forde qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a relay swimmer for the 4x200m free relay. She earned a silver medal in the event, representing the U.S. Olympic team for the first time.
Forde contributed to the Stanford women’s team’s two NCAA Championship titles during her freshman and sophomore years (2018, 2019).
After graduating in 2021 with a BA in human biology, Forde chose to return to Stanford as a fifth-year swimmer for the 2021-2022 season. The Stanford women’s team won the 2022 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships for the fourth time during Forde’s collegiate career. That year she won the 400 IM (4:00.76) and 800 free relay (6:50.21), splitting the fastest time of 1:42.44. With her two wins, Forde finished her career as a six-time Pac-12 champion.
Forde has achieved numerous accolades in the NCAA as a senior and fifth-year student-athlete. She was the 2021 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America NCAA Division I At-Large Team Member of the Year. Furthermore, she was named the 2021 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Due to her service as the co-president of the Stanford Student-Athlete Sustainability Committee and contribution to the Pac-12 Sustainability Committee, Forde received Stanford’s 2022 James Lyons Award for Service.
After retiring from swimming in 2022, Forde accepted her two-year assignment with the Peace Corps as a public health officer in rural Peru.