Raena Eldridge, Asia Seidt Among Finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year

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Asia Seidt; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Texas A&M swimmer Raena Eldridge and Kentucky’s Asia Seidt were announced Thursday among the top 30 honorees for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Texas diver Alison Gibson and Washington & Lee swimmer Emily Hageboeck also made the cut of the final 30, selected from a list of 605 school nominees and 161 conference finalists.

The top 30 includes 10 outstanding female athletes from each Division I, II and III who have excelled in academics, community services and leadership as well as athletics.

“The 30 honorees selected this year excelled in the classroom and in competition while also remaining committed to serving their peers and communities,” Suzette McQueen, chair of the Woman of the Year Selection Committee and senior associate commissioner for external relations and strategic marketing/senior woman administrator at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, said in an NCAA statement. “These outstanding women represent the thousands of diverse and talented women competing in college sports each year, and we’re proud to recognize their achievements on and off the field.”

Eldridge, a two-time Texas A&M captain, graduated in May with degrees animal science and genetics and a minor in business. She had a 3.979 GPA and has begun veterinary school at NC State. A four-time SEC team champion, Eldridge was a four-time CSCAA All-American, was Texas A&M’s female nominee for the SEC’s H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship, won the Arthur Ashe, Jr. Female Sports Scholar of the Year and was a two-time winner of A&M’s Bill Erwin Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

Gibson, a six-time All-American, was the 2017 NCAA champion in the one-meter springboard for the Longhorns and represented the United States at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships, among other international competitions. The four-time Big 12 champion and 2020 Big 12 Women’s Diver of the Year was a three-time Academic All-Big 12 pick who won an NCAA Winter Sports Postgraduate Scholarship award and the Big 12 Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship. An advertising, media and analytics major, she is pursuing a master’s degree in advertising at Texas.

Seidt graduated with a degree in kinesiology in May and has enrolled in Kentucky’s physical therapy graduate program. She is the program’s leader, among men and women and swimmers and divers, in All-America honors (21), SEC Championships medals (15) and NCAA Championships podium finishes (8). She competed at the World University Games and was the 2019 Arthur Ashe Female Sports Scholar of the Year recipient and the SEC’s 2020 H. Boyd McWhorter Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient.

Hageboeck is a 14-time All-American at Division III Washington & Lee, the second-most All-American honors in program history. The 17-time Old Dominion Athletic Conference champion graduated with program records in three individual events and both medley relays, a three-time ODAC Swimmer of the Year and three-time ODAC Scholar Athlete of the Year. An accounting major, Hageboeck was a three-time CSCAA Scholar All-American. She received the 2020  William McHenry Scholar-Athlete Award as W&L’s top female scholar-athlete and the ODAC’s Marjorie Berkley Award as the conference’s top female scholar-athlete.

Nine finalists, three from each division, will be named in October. The 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year will be selected later this fall. The full list of 30 finalists is here.

Previous NCAA Woman of the Year Winners (Swimming & Diving)

  • 1997: Lisa Coole, Georgia
  • 2000: Kristy Kowal, Georgia
  • 2001: Kim Black, Georgia
  • 2003: Ashley Jo Rowatt Karpinos, Kenyon
  • 2005: Lauryn McCalley, Tennessee
  • 2007: Whitney Myers, Arizona
  • 2009: Lacey Nymeyer, Arizona
  • 2010: Justine Schluntz, Arizona
  • 2015: Kristin Day, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
  • 2016: Margaret Guo, MIT
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