Former Kentucky swimmer Asia Seidt nominated for 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year

INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Kentucky has nominated alumnae swimmer Asia Seidt for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year award, following a career that featured four individual conference titles, 21 All-America honors and a spotless 4.0 cumulative grade-point average in kinesiology.

NCAA member schools have nominated a record 605 female college athletes for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year award from the three divisions. Next, conference offices will select their nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year, and all conference-round nominees will be announced in August.

Conference nominations are forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee, which identifies the top 10 honorees in each of the three NCAA divisions. From the top 30, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division and announce nine finalists. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then will choose the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named this fall.

Seidt graduated in May, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology with summa cum laude honors. She will attend UK’s Physical Therapy Graduate Program this fall.

Of all swimmers and divers – male or female – who have ever come through the Kentucky swimming and diving program, the Louisville, Kentucky, native holds the most records. She has earned more All-America honors, NCAA Championship podium finishes, SEC Championship medals and All-SEC First Team selections than any UK swimmer or diver, man or woman, that has come before her.

In her (nearly four) years at Kentucky, she has earned 21 All-America honors, 15 SEC Championship medals, eight NCAA Championship podium finishes, four conference titles, one USA Swimming Summer Nationals gold medal and one World University Games silver medal.

Seidt holds five individual school records, was twice named to the USA Swimming National Team, twice qualified for Team USA Olympic Trials, was three times named to the All-SEC First Team, is the 2019 ELITE 90 recipient, 2019 Arthur Ashe Female Sports Scholar of the Year recipient and the 2020 SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient.

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 nominees represent all three NCAA divisions, including 259 nominees from Division I, 126 from Division II and 220 from Division III. Nominees competed in 24 sports, with multisport student-athletes accounting for 128 of the nominees.

Member schools are encouraged to honor their top graduating female college athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.

You can learn more about the award program, next steps and previous winners by visiting ncaa.org/woty.

For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter and on Instagram, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.