Bacon, Samedy Named NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees

Athletics | 7/14/2022 1:00:00 PM

MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota has nominated diving champion Sarah Bacon and volleyball All-American Stephanie Samedy for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award, the NCAA announced Thursday. 

NCAA member schools nominated 577 female college athletes for the award, which began in 1991 and recognizes graduating athletes who excel in the four pillars of academics, athletics, service, and leadership. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2022.

Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. All nominees who compete in a sport that is not sponsored by their school’s primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be sent to a separate pool to be considered by a committee. 

The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee then identifies the Top 30 – 10 from Divisions I, II and III  –and from there selects three finalists from each division. From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then selects the NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named later this fall.

Bacon is the most decorated female champion in Minnesota history with five NCAA titles, three on the 1-meter (2018, ’19, ’21) and two on the 3-meter (2021, ’22). No other female athlete in school history has more than two NCAA titles. In fact, Bacon is tied for the most NCAA titles of any athlete in any sport. The accolades for Bacon are numerous, including being a 10-time All-American, four-time Big Ten champion, three-time All-Big Ten First Team, two-time Big Ten Diver of the Year, two-time Big Ten Diver of the Championships and 2018 NCAA Co-Diver of the Championships.

The 2021 Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year and 2021 CSCAA Women’s Division I Diver of the Year, Bacon holds the conference record for the 1-meter and 3-meter and the NCAA Championship Record on the 1-meter. In addition, she was the 2021 HONDA Sport Award Winner for Swimming & Diving, becoming the only woman in Minnesota history to earn the HONDA Sport Award for any sport and the…