Olympic Champion Simone Manuel was officially named the Class of 2018 Honda Cup Award winner on Monday night. Manuel was announced as the winner in a ceremony that was broadcast on the CBS Sports Network from downtown Los Angeles, CA.
Congratulations to @Simone_Manuel — the Class of 2018 #HondaCup Winner ?
✅ 21-time All-American
✅ 14-time NCAA Champion
✅ 4-time Olympic medalist
✅ 2018 HONDA CUP WINNER pic.twitter.com/uR2NGDJdei— CWSA Honda Cup (@CWSA_HondaCup) June 26, 2018
Manuel was one of the five Honda Sport Award winners from the Pac-12 who were nominated for the Honda Cup, which recognizes the top female student-athlete across 12 different NCAA-sanctioned sports. Each Honda Sport Award winner is then eligible to win the Honda Cup. Manuel was one of four swimmers to be nominated for the Sport Award this year, beating out teammates Katie Ledecky and Ella Eastin as well as Olympic champion and world record holder Lilly King.
Ledecky herself won the award in 2017, which gives the Stanford women’s swimming and diving team two back to back winners.
2017 @CWSA_HondaCup Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year: @katieledecky ✅
2018 @CWSA_HondaCup Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year: @simone_manuel ✅We’re noticing a trend here, @stanfordwswim. ?#BackThePac
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) June 26, 2018
You can see the full press release from Stanford Athletics on Manuel’s win below:
Stanford swimming standout Simone Manuel won the Honda Cup as the nation’s top collegiate women’s athlete, as awarded by the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards at a nationally televised event in downtown Los Angeles on Monday night.
Manuel is the fourth Cardinal to win the honor, joining teammate Katie Ledecky last year, women’s volleyball’s Ogonna Nnamani in 2005, women’s swimmer Tara Kirk in 2004. Stanford is the first school to have back-to-back Honda Cup award winners since Maya Moore won twice in a row for the University of Connecticut in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Manuel is a 14-time NCAA champion, including six national titles at the 2018 NCAA Championships. A team captain from Sugar Land, Texas, Manuel is a 21-time All-American and was just the fifth woman to win three NCAA titles in the 100-yard freestyle, winning each year she competed.
She finished her career with six American records, seven NCAA records and seven school records and was a member of two NCAA championship teams and two Pac-12 championship squads.
The first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming, Manuel holds four Olympic medals (two gold, two silver).
Stanford Athletics contributed to this report.
Congratulations
Brava, Simone! So many of us old coaches and swimmers are just thrilled for you, winning this award! Keep up your hard work, and enjoy your status as a new “Swimming Icon”! Love it! jp
pssstt…the reason no one is “commenting” or retweeting her “WIN” on social media.is because..EVERYONE knows Ella Eastin should have won this..and it’s just a PC world we live in now…sad but true…..