Stanford freshman Ella Eastin was one of four nominees for the Honda Sports Award for swimming & diving as announced by THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) on Tuesday.
Indiana’s Lilly King, Georgia’s Olivia Smoliga and Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell are the other nominees.
The nominees were chosen by a panel of coaches representing the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of American (CSCAA). The award winner will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
Eastin won two individual national titles and five first-team All-America honors at the NCAA Championships. She swept the individual medley national titles with historic victories. The Irvine native set an American record in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:51.65 and then broke four-minutes to win the 400 IM in 3:58.40. Eastin is the youngest swimmer of all-time to break four minutes in the 400 IM, and her finish at NCAA’s marked the sixth-fastest in history.
In addition, Eastin was the national runner-up with the seventh-fastest finish all-time in the 200-yard butterfly (1:51.04). She also earned first-team All-America honors in the 400 and 800-yard freestyle relays, and led the Cardinal to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships. At the Pac-12 Championships, Eastin won four Pac-12 titles (three individual, one relay).
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 40 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 2016 Honda Cup, which will be presented on a live telecast on June 27, 2016. Six Honda Sports Awards winners for swimming & diving have gone on to win the prestigious Honda Cup, including Stanford’s Tara Kirk in 2004.
Eastin is the 30th finalist from Stanford. Simone Manuel was a nominee last year and Felicia Lee won the swimming and diving Honda Sports Award in 2014.
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics