Ohashi, Carey Nominated for NCAA Woman of Year Award
June 27, 2019 | Beach Volleyball, Gymnastics, Bruin Athletics
UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi and beach volleyball player Izzy Carey have been nominated for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award. The award honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themsleves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
Ohashi graduated this spring with a degree in Gender Studies. She made a huge splash world-wide with her perfect 10 floor exercise routine that went viral, bringing an unprecedented amount of positive attention to collegiate gymnastics. Ohashi used her platform to spread messages of self-worth, body positivity, inclusiveness, empathy and finding your joy, all while competing at the highest level for her team. Ohashi scored six perfect 10s on floor exercise in 2019 (and 11 total perfect 10s in her career) and became just the fourth gymnast ever to finish the regular season with a national qualifying score of 10.0. She won Pac-12 Specialist of the Year honors for the second consecutive year, won a share of the Pac-12 balance beam and floor exercise titles, and earned four first-team All-America honors to bring her career total to 10. As a junior in 2018, Ohashi won the NCAA floor exercise title and helped lead UCLA to its seventh NCAA team championship.
Carey, who graduated with a degree in Business-Economics with a double minor in Music History and Accounting, helped UCLA Beach Volleyball win back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2018 and 2019. A two-time All-American, Carey was named to the all-tournament team at the 2019 NCAA and Pac-12 Championships. She holds UCLA records for career wins (123), single-season wins (36 in 2019) and single-season winning percentage (.947 in 2019). The 2019 Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Carey was also honored with the 2018-19 Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal and was the 2018-19 UCLA Academic and Student Services' SUCCESS Award winner and a winner of the Athletic Director's Academic Excellence Award. She is the first UCLA beach volleyball player ever to earn three first-team Pac-12 All-Academic honors. Carey has a long list of leadership positions and community service work, including serving as a Pac-12 SAAC Representative and co-chair of the Bruin Athletic Council.
A record 585 female college athletes were nominated this year by NCAA member schools. Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees โ 10 from each division.
The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30 and announce the nine finalists in September. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then will choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual award ceremony Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.
Click here to view the full list of nominees.
Players Mentioned
