Courtesy: Pac-12
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – California senior Robin Neumann has been named the 2022 Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the conference office announced today. The award, which is presented in each of the 24 sports the Pac-12 sponsors, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes that are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.
Neumann, a freestyle swimmer from Amsterdam and a team co-captain for the Golden Bears since 2019, is majoring in Global Studies and holds a cumulative 3.95 grade-point average. The senior ranks among Cal’s all-time top 10 in both the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle. She captured the 2021 Pac-12 title in the 200-yard freestyle in addition to being the runner-up in the 100-yard freestyle, as well as a finalist in the 500-yard freestyle last year.
A three-time NCAA finalist in the 200-yard freestyle (6th in 2021, 8th in 2019, 5th in 2018), Neumann has also scored at the NCAA meet in the 100-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle while also having swum on the Golden Bear’s 800-yard freestyle relay three times at the national meet (all have finished in the top 3). The senior was a member of the Pac-12 champion 400-yard and 800-yard freestyle relays in 2019 and 2021.
A member of the Dutch National Team since 2015, Neumann competed for the Netherlands at the 2016 Olympics in the 200-yard freestyle individual event and 800-yard freestyle relay before being a member of the Dutch team at the 2021 European Championships.
In the classroom, Neumann was a four-time CSCAA Scholar All-American and a three-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll selection. She was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America at-large team twice (second team in 2021; third team in 2020), making her one of two Cal Women’s swimmers to be recognized at least twice.
In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50 percent of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletics accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in voting for the award.
A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12’s 24 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, beach volleyball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, men’s rowing, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, women’s volleyball, and wrestling. The award was first established during the 2007-08 academic year.
ALSO NOMINATED: Alayna Connor, Arizona; Brooke Forde, Stanford; Isabelle Odgers, USC; Chloe Larson, Washington State.
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