by Larry Eder
,
Lisa Koll, 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, 10,000 m, July 2008, photo by
PhotoRun.net.
Congrats are in order for Lisa Koll, Collegiate record holder at 10,000 meters and also the newly crowned NCAA Division 1 Champion at 10,000 meters! Lisa is one of top three finalists for the prestigious Honda-Broderick Cup, the Heisman of women’s sports. While
all three women are wonderful candidates, Runblogrun.com sure hope’s Lisa Koll wins
the award! Go Lisa!
“TOP
THREE” FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2010 HONDA-BRODERICK
CUP
—
Collegiate
Woman Athlete of the Year To Be Named on June
21st
At a Ceremony in Los Angeles
—
New
York, NY, June 16, 2010 — The
Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards today announced the “Top Three” finalists
for the prestigious Honda-Broderick Cup, its annual top honor designating
the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. This year’s finalists are, in
alphabetical order: Megan Hodge,
Penn State University (volleyball),
Lisa Koll,
Iowa State University (track & field) and Maya Moore,
University of Connecticut (basketball).
The
Honda-Broderick Cup winner will be named at a special awards ceremony on
June 21st at UCLA in Los Angeles, which the “Top Three”
finalists are all scheduled to attend. The “Top Three” finalists were
chosen from previously announced Honda Sports Award winners in 12
different NCAA-sanctioned sports,
by a vote from among more than 1,000 NCAA-member
institutions.
Career
Highlights of the “Top Three”
Megan Hodge
(senior, volleyball) – Outside
hitter Hodge
is a native of the U.S. Virgin Islands and grew up in Durham, North
Carolina. During
her career, she led the Nittany Lions to
their second undefeated season and third straight NCAA championship title
in 2009, winning 102 straight matches. Her
average of 4.67
kills per set (560 kills total) led the Big Ten and earned her an eighth
place national ranking. She ranked second on her team in digs with 295
(2.46 per set). She is one of only two players ever to reach 2000 career
kills at Penn State, with 2,142 total, and she amassed
a career win/loss record of 142-5. Her win/lose career percentage of
.966
is the best in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball history for classes that
have won national titles. Hodge
was chosen AVCA Division I National Player of the Year
by
the American Volleyball Coaches Association and is
a four-time AVCA First-Team All-American.
She
was selected as the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2009 for the second
time, the first as a freshman in 2006. She
was also honored as CoSIDA
Academic All-American of the Year. Megan graduated with a business
management degree and
is currently a member of the 2010 U.S. women’s volleyball team. Her
parents, Michael and Carmen, are both former members of the Virgin Islands
National Volleyball team.
Lisa
Koll (senior, track & field)
– Koll
capped
her college career as the track collegiate record holder in 10,000 meters
and sixth-fastest American woman ever with time of 31:18.07. The Fort
Dodge, Iowa native is a four-time NCAA champion, recently finishing first
in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track
& Field Championships. She is an eleven-time All-American, as well as
a nine-time Big 12 Conference champion. She was named the 2010 Outdoor Big
12 Female Performer of the Year after winning the 5,000-meter and
10,000-meter in Columbia, Missouri, becoming the only woman to win four
consecutive Big 12 titles in the same event (10,000-meter). Lisa graduated
Summa Cum Laude in just three years from Iowa State, with a 3.98 GPA in
biology. The
three-time academic All-American was
also honored as the 2009 CoSIDA All Sports Academic All-American. The
seven-time Big 12 first-team All-Academic selection is currently in her
second year of Veterinary Medicine school at ISU and plans to start
on her professional track career, beginning with the USA
Championships.
Maya
Moore (junior, basketball) – Moore,
a native of Jefferson City, Missouri, grew up in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
She helped her team achieve an NCAA record of 78 consecutive wins over two
seasons, as well as its sixth undefeated season and second straight NCAA
National Championship. Moore ended the season averaging 18.9 points and
8.3 rebounds, and scored in double figures 34 times. She finished the
2009-2010 season with 736 points, the second most points scored in a
season by a UConn player only to herself (754 pts in 2008-09). So far in
her career Moore has scored 2168 points, with 963 rebounds and 243
three-pointers. She is also the first junior in the program’s history to
score over 2000 points. She received both the 2010 NCAA Final Four Most
Outstanding Player and Dayton Regional’s Most Outstanding Player award and
is a three-time AP First Team All-American. A Sports Marketing and Media
major with a 3.85 GPA, she has been honored this year as the Big East
Scholar Athlete of the Year, ESPN Academic All-America of the Year, CoSIDA
Academic First-Team, 2010 Wade Trophy winner and Wooden Award
finalist.
Other
Honors to Be Presented on June 21st
In
addition to the annual Honda-Broderick Cup, the Collegiate Women’s Sports
Awards Program also presents its annual “Honda Inspiration Award”
to a deserving collegiate female athlete. This year’s recipient is
Antoinette Cobb from Zachary, Louisiana, a track star at Louisiana
Tech University who was
forced to withdraw from classes for two quarters and forego track her
entire sophomore year due to stage III colon cancer. Cobb courageously
came back to become the seventh best 100-meter hurdler in the country and
earned four WAC titles in her junior and senior
seasons.
The
program also honors “Athletes of the Year” from both NCAA Division II and
Division III colleges.
Concordia
University
volleyball setter Maggie
McNamara
from Zumbrota, Minnesota, won the Division II award. She led her team to
an undefeated season this year, as well as to a “three-peat” third
straight national title and a fourth NSIC crown. In
her senior year of competition, she sealed her name in the NCAA record
book as the all-time leading setter, putting up a new record for career
assists with 7,351. For the fourth season in her career, McNamara led
the nation in assists per set, this year with a mark of
13.26.
The
Division III Athlete of the Year Award goes to Bethel University
track and field standout Marie Borner from Cottage Grove,
Minnesota.
She
capped her remarkable senior season by earning National
Championships in the indoor mile, with a time of 4:50.20, as well as the
outdoor 1500-meter (4:23.85) and outdoor 800-meter (2:06.87). She
was also the MIAC champion in the 800-meter and 1500-meter, setting a
stadium record in both races. She set a meet record in the 800-meter in
the 2010 NCAA Division III National Championships. In
all, she holds 10 school records.
Last
year’s Honda-Broderick Cup winner was gymnastics
superstar and previous two-time Honda Sports Award winner (2007, 2009)
Courtney Kupets of the University of Georgia. Other
past winners of the Honda-Broderick Cup include some of the most talented
and accomplished collegiate athletes in recent history: Candace Parker
(basketball, 2008), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (track & field,
1984), Mia Hamm (soccer, 1994), Cheryl Miller (basketball,
1983), Ann Meyers (1978, basketball), Tracy Caulkins (1982,
1984, swimming & diving), Chamique Holdsclaw (basketball, 1998)
and Lisa Fernandez (softball, 1993). In 2001, Joyner-Kersee was
honored as the “Top Collegiate Woman Athlete for the Past 25
Years.”
The
“Top Three” finalists were voted over nine other nominees:
University of Illinois’ Angela Bizzarri for cross country, Katie O’Donnell
from the University of Maryland for field hockey, Whitney Engen from the
University of North Carolina for soccer, Julia Smit from Stanford
University for swimming & diving, Susan Jackson from Louisiana State
University for Gymnastics, Caroline Hedwall of Oklahoma State University
for golf, Caitlyn McFadden of the University of Maryland for lacrosse,
Laura Vallverdu of the University of Miami for tennis and Danielle Lawrie
of the University of Washington for softball.
American
Honda Motor Co., Inc. has sponsored the Collegiate Women Sports Awards
Program for 24 consecutive years.
Honda has donated over $2 million in institutional grants to the
winners’ and nominees’ universities over the course of the program. See www.hondaawards.com for more
information.
#
# #
Awards Contact:
Christina
Colon/Harvey Bolgla
Dobbin/Bolgla Associates
156 Fifth Avenue
New
York, NY 10010
Phone: (212) 388-1400/ Fax: (212) 388-1490
ccolon@dba-pr.com
hbolgla@dba-pr.com
School
Contacts
(In order of finalist’s last
name)
Penn State University
Contact:
Susan
Bedsworth, SID
Penn
State University
201
Shields Building
University
Park, PA 16802
Ph:
(814) 865-1757
sjb5001@psu.edu
Iowa State
University Contact:
Sean
Sullivan, SID
Iowa
State University
1750
Beardshear Hall
Ames,
IA 50011-2035
Phone:
(515) 294-3372
Sully87@iastate.edu
University
of Connecticut Contact:
Mike
Enright, SID
University
of Connecticut
2095
Hillside Rd, #1173
Storrs,
CT 06269
(860)
486-2241
mike.enright@uconn.com
