Kate Douglass has been named the 2022 Honda Sport Award winner for swimming & diving, THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) Executive Director Chris Voelz announced Thursday.
Douglass was chosen by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools, topping fellow finalists Alex Walsh (Virginia), Katharine Berkoff (NC State) and Tarrin Gilliland (Indiana).
The Honda Sport Award has been present annually by the CWSA for the past 46 years to honor the top female athletes in the 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, signifying “the best of the best in collegiate athletics.” Each year’s winner also becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year award along with the 2022 Honda Cup.
Douglass, who is coming off her junior year at the University of Virginia, swept her individual events at the 2022 NCAA Championships, winning the 50 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and 100 fly.
She set a new U.S. Open, NCAA and American Record en route to her victories the 50 free (20.84) and 200 breast (2:02.84), and added another American Record in the 100 fly (49.04).
“I am so honored to receive the Honda Sport Award for swimming and diving,” Douglass said. “I share this award with my awesome teammates and coaches at the University of Virginia. What we accomplished this year was absolutely amazing and I’m so grateful to be a part of this team. Go Hoos!”
Douglass also swam on all four of UVA’s winning relays at NCAAs, leading the Cavs to their second consecutive team championship title. She also won three individual ACC titles in 2022 as Virginia came out on top at the conference championships.
“Excited for Kate to be honored with this award,” Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “It’s a testament to her commitment to excellence, both in the pool and the classroom. She continues to develop as an athlete and a person and I’m proud to see where she is, and for her to be recognized in this way, after three years of collegiate experience.
“The exciting thing is that the best is yet to come. Kate is deserving of this award and it’s always nice to see a student-athlete’s hard work and dedication pay off and be recognized.”
Following her exploits during the collegiate season, Douglass recently competed at the U.S. International Team Trials in Greensboro, N.C., qualifying for her first World Championship team in the 200 breaststroke and 400 free relay.
RECENT WOMEN’S SWIM & DIVE HONDA SPORTS AWARD WINNERS
- 2022 – Kate Douglass, Virginia
- 2021 – Sarah Bacon, Minnesota
- 2020 – Abbey Weitzeil, Cal
- 2019 – Lilly King, Indiana
- 2018 – Simone Manuel, Stanford
- 2017 – Katie Ledecky, Stanford
- 2016 – Kelsi Worrell (Dahlia), Louisville
- 2015 – Missy Franklin, Cal
2022 HONDA SPORT AWARD WINNERS*
*announced as of May 5
- Swimming & Diving – Kate Douglass, Virginia
- Gymnastics – Trinity Thomas, Florida
- Basketball – Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
- Soccer – Jaelin Howell, Florida State
- Field Hockey – Jill Bolton, Liberty
- Volleyball – Dana Rettke, Wisconsin
- Cross Country – Whittni Orton, BYU
Congratulations on all the success!
she’s from NY. One state up from me. She’s cool!
When you win all your races and set records in all of them as well, you deserve a special award.
And she did it in three different strokes. That takes it to another level of specialness.
Well deserved. Congratulations.
Her unbelievably versatile performance at NCAAs is, almost two months later, still just mind-boggling.
slay queen
Congratulations!