COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Women's swimming alumna Sophie Lear was nominated by Ursinus College for the annual NCAA Woman of the Year, announced recently by the NCAA.
Lear was nothing short of spectacular in her time in the pool at Ursinus. She qualified for the NCAA Championship meet for the second time in her career and garnered All-American honors in both the 50 and 100 freestyle races. Lear dazzles once again at the 2022 Centennial Championships as she recorded her second career Centennial Conference Most Outstanding Women's Swimmer award back in February. Her performance at Centennial Championships was recently recognized again as it was voted the Centennial Conference Play of the Year in a three-week bracket style voting contest on Twitter.
Lear added three individual gold medals and two relay golds at the 2022 Centennial Championships and polished off her Centennial Championship career by going undefeated in individual events at the conference meet. She set the program and Centennial Conference record in the 50 freestyle during the championship meet. For her career, Lear registered 12 gold medals at the Centennial Championship meet. Lear was named the Ursinus College Women's Senior Athlete of the Year at the URSPY Awards in early May and was one of the five student-athletes to earn a Ronald and Ehret Kichline Prize from the department.
Lear was just as dynamic in the classroom as she amassed a cumulative GPA of 3.87 as a Biology major. She was named the Centennial Conference Women's Swimming Scholar Athlete of the Year and was a two-time College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar Athlete. She was on the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll in all four years at Ursinus and garnered a spot on the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area team.
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In total, 577 female student-athletes were nominated for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, 202 of which were from Division III. A total of 251 student-athletes were counted as multi-sport athletes, including 46 three-sport athletes and one four-sport athlete. The average GPA of all 577 nominees is 3.8.
Rooted in Title IX, the NCAA Woman of the Year Award was established in 1991 to recognize graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers. The four pillars of the Woman of the Year award are academics, athletics, service and leadership.
The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.