STANFORD, Calif. - Senior Simone Manuel, junior Ella Eastin and sophomore Katie Ledecky are among the four nominees for the Honda Sport Award for swimming and diving, as announced Friday by Chris Voelz, Executive Director of THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA).
This is just the second time three teammates have been nominated for a Honda sport award, joining Arizona golf in 2000-01.
Ledecky was the Class of 2017 Honda Cup winner and would be the first athlete since Maya Moore (2010, 2011) to repeat as a Cup winner should she win both the Sport Award and the prestigious Cup. A sophomore from Bethesda, Maryland, Ledecky is an eight-time NCAA Champion, including three titles in 2018, and is a nine-time All-American. On the world stage, she is a six-time Olympic medalist and has 14 World Championship gold medals, the most ever by a female.
Eastin is a two-time Honda Award nominee. She has captured 10 national championships, including five this season. Hailing from Irvine, California, she is a two-time Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year and was the 2018 NCAA Swimmer of the Meet. Overall, she is a 14-time All-American and holds four American, NCAA and school records.
Manuel is a three-time Honda Award nominee and a 14-time NCAA champion, including six national titles at the 2018 NCAA Championships. The senior team captain from Sugar Land, Texas, is a 21-time All-American, earning seven titles in 2018, and became the fifth woman to win three NCAA titles in the 100 free (won each year she competed). She finished her career with six American records, seven NCAA records and seven school records. Manuel was the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming and holds four Olympic medals.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 42 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA- sanctioned sports and signifies "the best of the best in collegiate athletics". The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2018 Honda Cup which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 25, 2018, in downtown Los, Angeles.
The nominees were chosen by a panel of coaches representing the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). The Honda Sport award winner for Swimming & Diving will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
#GoStanford
Three of the four nominees for the national @CWSA_HondaCup Swimming Award are ??????!
— Stanford WSwim/Dive (@stanfordwswim) April 6, 2018
Congrats @ella_eastin, @katieledecky and @simone_manuel ?? #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/OMGzEpU33U