University of Kentucky swimmer Asia Seidt and University of Texas diver Alison Gibson were among 10 recipients of the NCAA Today’s Top 10 Award, announced Wednesday.
The awards will be bestowed as part of the NCAA Convention during a virtual ceremony on Jan. 13, to be streamed at 7 p.m. EST on the NCAA’s twitter account and via the ESPN app. The award is selected by members of the NCAA Honors Committee, which includes representatives of NCAA schools, conferences, past award winners and other individuals.
Photo Courtesy: University of Texas Athletics
Seidt, the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, adds yet another accolade to her CV. In the pool, she’s the most accomplished swimmer in Kentucky history in terms of program records (five), All-American honors (21), NCAA Championship podium finishes (eight), SEC Championships medals (15, four gold) and SEC first-team selections. She also competed at the World University Games for the U.S., twice named to the national team.
A four-time NCAA qualifier, Seidt retired from swimming in June.
The kinesiology grad held a 4.0 grade-point average and is enrolled in Kentucky’s Physical Therapy graduate program. She was named the 2019 ELITE 90 recipient, the 2019 Arthur Ashe Female Sports Scholar of the Year, the 2020 SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the 2020 CoSIDA At-Large Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Gibson was a four-time Big 12 champion for the Longhorns and the 2020 Big 12 Women’s Diver of the Year. The Big 12’s Co-Diver of the Meet in 2020, she won the three-meter title and finished second in the one-meter at the NCAA Zone D championships before NCAAs were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gibson has competed in the 2017 and 2019 World Championships, the 2017 World University Games and the 2018 FINA Diving World Cup.
Gibson, who graduated with a degree in advertising, was a three-time Academic All-Big 12 selection and is pursuing a master’s degree in Austin. She won an NCAA Winter Sports Postgraduate Scholarship award and the Big 12 Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship. Gibson was a three-year member of Texas’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, serving as president as a senior.
Gibson was a four-year leader of Texas’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, served on the B4 Committee that fosters collaboration between athletes and faculty, served a year-long internship with the Texas’s Athletics marketing department, and traveled to Costa Rica in 2018 to work with a non-profit, Soles for Souls, that provides shoes to children.
NCAA Today’s Top 10 Award winners
- Nia Akins, University of Pennsylvania, Cross Country/Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field
- Bernardo Amaral Neves, Washington University in St. Louis, Tennis
- Brittny Ellis, University of Miami (Fla.), Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field
- Alison Gibson, University of Texas, Swimming & Diving
- Eoin Gronningsater, Duke University, Fencing
- Deshawn Jones, Missouri University of Science & Technology, Football
- Lily Justine, UCLA, Beach Volleyball
- Kayla Leland, Whitworth University, Cross Country/Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field/Basketball
- Asia Seidt, University of Kentucky, Swimming and Diving
- Juah Toe, West Chester University, Rugby
