Maggie Ewen from Arizona State University, University of Georgia teammates Keturah Orji and Kendell Williams and Raeyvn Rogers from the University of Oregon are the four nominees for the Honda Sport Award for track & field as announced by Chris Voelz, Executive Director of THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) today.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 41 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA- sanctioned sports and signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”. The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2017 Honda Cup which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 26, 2017, in downtown Los, Angeles.
The nominees were chosen by a panel of coaches representing the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The Honda Sport award winner for track & field will be announced this week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
Ewen, a junior from St. Francis, Minn., captured the 2017 NCAA Outdoor championship title in the Hammer after she launched the implement 73.32m (240-7) to break a 10-year-old NCAA record. She ended the 2017 season with the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 best marks in collegiate outdoor history. A 2017 three-time USTFCCCA outdoor All-American, she scored the most individual points of any student-athlete at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Hailing from Mt. Olive, N.J., Orji won two NCAA titles in the triple jump during the track & field season and two other top-three finishes in the long jump. The junior broke the collegiate and American records in the triple jump at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships with a mark of 14.32m (46-11¾ ). She won the event at the NCAA Championships and took third-place in the long jump for 16 points for Georgia. She continued her dominance outdoors with her third career triple jump crown and finished runner-up in the long jump.
Rogers, a junior from Houston, Texas, helped the Ducks nab the first women’s Triple Crown – NCAA team titles in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field during the same academic year – in NCAA Division I history. She broke a 27-year-old collegiate record in the 800 at the Mt. SAC Relays and captured the 800-meter 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championship title in the 5th fastest time in collegiate outdoor history.
A native of Marietta, Ga., Williams completed the combined event sweep during the indoor and outdoor seasons and became the only woman in NCAA Division I Indoor history to win four pentathlon crowns in a row. The senior ends her career with seven of the top-10 marks in collegiate history and is a four-time USTFCCCA National Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Year. She posted the largest margin of victory (306 points) since 2012 in the 2017 NCAA Outdoor pentathlon.
Honda Sport award winners will be presented with the honor during on-campus presentations throughout the year and all Honda Sport award winners become a finalist for the prestigious 2017 Honda Cup award presented in June.
THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards has honored the nation’s top NCAA women athletes for 41 years, recognizing superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service. Since commencing its sponsorship in 1986, Honda has provided more than $3.1 million in institutional grants to the universities of the award winners and nominees to support women’s athletics programs at the institutions.