Stanford’s Simone Manuel Among Pac-12 Honda Sports Award Winners; Nominated for Honda Cup

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

12 Honda Sports Award winners were awarded during the 2017-18 campaign and five are Pac-12 athletes. The Honda Sports Award acknowledges athletic achievement as well as scholastics and community involvement, and is given to female athletes in 12 different NCAA-sanctioned sports throughout the year. Each Honda Sports Award winner is recognized as the top collegiate female athlete in her sport, and the award is considered by many as one of the highest honors a female college athlete can receive in the nation.

Each of the 12 winners are finalists for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious Honda Cup which will be announced live during the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Show presented by Honda on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 25, at 6 pm PT/9 pm ET, in downtown Los Angeles.

The Honda Sports Award is presented annually by the CWSA and the sport winners are chosen by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools and among four finalists in each sport. The five Pac-12 Honda Sports Award winners in are:

Soccer: Andi Sullivan, Stanford (Lorton, Va.)

Sullivan is at two-time MAC Hermann Trophy finalist, leading Stanford to the 2017 NCAA title. The Pac-12 Midfielder of the Year was also named the Senior CLASS Award winner and is a three-time United Soccer Coaches All-American. The senior is a four-time All-Pac-12 and All-Pacific Region first-team selection, and a member of the U.S. National Team with seven caps. The three-year captain posted 20 career goals, 19 assists and eight game-winning goals at Stanford.

Swimming and Diving: Simone Manuel, Stanford (Sugar Land, Texas)

Manuel is a three-time Honda Award nominee and a 14-time NCAA Champion including six national titles at the 2018 NCAA Championship. The senior team captain is a 21-time All-American, earning seven All-America nods in 2018, and became the fifth woman to win three NCAA titles in the 100-free, 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. She is also the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming and holds four Olympic medals after the 2016 games (two gold, two silver).

Gymnastics: Christine Peng-Peng Lee, UCLA (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Lee led UCLA to the 2018 NCAA Championship title in a come-from-behind victory after needing a 9.975 on beam in the final routine and scoring a perfect 10 to secure the victory. She finished the Championship with two perfect 10s and captured the national championship on the balance beam. She is a nine-time All-American and was named the 2018 Pac-12 Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She finished the season with seven perfect 10s (five on balance beam and two on uneven bars) to end her career with 10 perfect 10s overall, which is third-most in UCLA history. Lee set a Pac-12 record with nine-career Pac-12 Specialist of the Week awards, including five in 2018.

Softball: Rachel Garcia, UCLA (Palmdale, Calif.)

Garcia was named USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Year, National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Player of the Year as well and ESPNW National Player of the Year. She is a NFCA first-team All-American and was also named the Pac-12 Player of the Year. She led the Bruins’ pitching staff with a 1.31 earned run average, a 29-4 record and 315 strikeouts in 208 innings, while adding a .339 batting average, while ranking fourth in the nation in strikeouts. A two-time NFCA and USA Softball Pitcher of the Week, she limited opponents to a .143 batting average. She is a member of the 2018 USA Softball National Team World Championship roster.

Track & Field: Maggie Ewen, Arizona State (St. Francis, Minn.)

Ewen was the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Champion in both the shot put and discus, becoming just the sixth woman in NCAA history to win both events in the same meet. She added a third national title winning the shot put during the indoor championship and is a four-time NCAA Champion overall. Her 2017 individual title in the hammer made her the only woman in NCAA history with a title in three throwing events. A two-time Honda Award nominee, she was named the Pac-12 Championship Field Athlete of the Meet and Pac-12 Women’s Field Athlete of the Year. Overall, she is an 11-time first-team All-American.

For more information on the Honda Cup, visit www.collegiatewomensportsaward.com.

The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with the Pac-12 Conference. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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