Bentley Swimmer Emily Sweet Nominated for Honda Inspiration Award
Bentley University swimmer Emily Sweet, who has been nominated for the 2022 Honda Inspiration Award, will be featured Monday night in the CBS Sports Network special for the award.
Sweet and her two co-finalists will be featured on “Defying the Odds,” a 30-minute show that tells the story of the three finalists. The special premieres Monday, June 20 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Honda Inspiration Award will be presented during a live awards show on June 27, also on CBS Sports Network.
Sweet was announced as a finalist for the award in late May, one of three finalists along with Western Michigan junior gymnast Payton Murphy and University of Louisville senior golfer Lauren Thibodeau.
Sweet was diagnosed in January 2021 with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She underwent chemotherapy until that August and studied remotely, with the Northeast 10 Conference having put the swim season on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Upon her return to campus, she resumed practicing and competing with Bentley, returning to her spot as one of the team’s most versatile athletes. Sweet participated in seven dual meets, though she was held out of the conference championships for precautionary reasons as the prepared for a stem cell procedure. An Academic All-Northeast 10 pick, she was the conference’s nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
“The coaches and team were inspired by Emily’s strength and determination throughout her illness,” Bentley swimming coach Mary Kay Samko said in a university statement. “Her desire to finish her Bentley career as a part of the swim team made us all appreciate how lucky we are to be Bentley athletes.”
The Inspiration Award has been selected annually for 34 years. It is, “given to a deserving female student-athlete in Division I, II or III who has experienced extraordinary physical and/or emotional adversity, injury and/or illness, or experienced extraordinary personal sacrifice during her college enrollment as a student-athlete and yet returns to athletic success.”
The award is sponsored by Honda as part of the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards (CWSA), which are in their 46th year of honoring the top NCAA female athletes, “for their superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service.”
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