Gabriela Leon Named Top 30 Honoree for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award
October 13, 2022 | Track & Field
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville's Gabriela Leon has been named a Top 30 honoree for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award as announced by the NCAA today.
"As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX, we recognize the impact of women on college sports and are honored to select 30 incredible student-athletes who have played instrumental roles on their campus, in their community and on their teams," said Renie Shields, chair of the Woman of the Year Selection Committee and senior associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at Saint Joseph's. "This accomplished and diverse group of women represent the millions of student-athletes who have participated in the strong history of women's sports."
Leon was the 2022 outdoor national pole vault champion, earning first-team U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America indoor and outdoor honors in 2022, All-America indoor honors in 2020 and outdoor second-team recognition in 2018. She was named the 2022 USTFCCCA Southeast Region Women's Field Athlete of the Year for outdoor. One of four women in NCAA history to clear 15 feet three times in one season, Leon holds the eighth-best mark in history for NCAA Division I women's outdoor pole vault and the indoor and outdoor records at Louisville.
The 2021 and 2022 Atlantic Coast outdoor pole vault champion received 11 all-conference honors in pole vault and long jump and was the 2022 Atlantic Coast Female Outdoor Field Performer of the Year. She finished fourth in pole vault at the 2022 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships and 12th at the World Athletics Championships.
Leon earned five USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and was recognized as the 2022 Atlantic Coast Track and Field Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. She received a 2022 Atlantic Coast Postgraduate Scholarship and was named a 2022 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar. She completed her bachelor degree in health and human performance/exercise science in May 2022.
A five-year member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Leon was a member of Student-Athletes of Color Combining Opportunity and Responsibility for Excellence and Los Cardenales, a student-athlete-led Latinx club. She also read to local children as a Read Across America volunteer.
About the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award
Selected from 577 school nominees — a group that was then narrowed to 156 nominees at the conference level — the Top 30 honorees include 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions. Each honoree has demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. The honorees represent 14 sports and include nine multisport student-athletes. They have a variety of majors, including biological and biomedical engineering, psychology, business, digital communications, education, nursing, law and policy, and robotics.
The selection committee will select three honorees from each NCAA division, for a total of nine finalists. From those finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year.
For the first time in the award's history, the NCAA Woman of the Year will be named and the Top 30 will be celebrated at the NCAA Convention, which will be held in January in San Antonio.
Established in 1991, the award recognizes female student-athletes who have completed their undergraduate studies and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers.
Released in conjunction with the NCAA
"As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX, we recognize the impact of women on college sports and are honored to select 30 incredible student-athletes who have played instrumental roles on their campus, in their community and on their teams," said Renie Shields, chair of the Woman of the Year Selection Committee and senior associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at Saint Joseph's. "This accomplished and diverse group of women represent the millions of student-athletes who have participated in the strong history of women's sports."
Leon was the 2022 outdoor national pole vault champion, earning first-team U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America indoor and outdoor honors in 2022, All-America indoor honors in 2020 and outdoor second-team recognition in 2018. She was named the 2022 USTFCCCA Southeast Region Women's Field Athlete of the Year for outdoor. One of four women in NCAA history to clear 15 feet three times in one season, Leon holds the eighth-best mark in history for NCAA Division I women's outdoor pole vault and the indoor and outdoor records at Louisville.
The 2021 and 2022 Atlantic Coast outdoor pole vault champion received 11 all-conference honors in pole vault and long jump and was the 2022 Atlantic Coast Female Outdoor Field Performer of the Year. She finished fourth in pole vault at the 2022 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships and 12th at the World Athletics Championships.
Leon earned five USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and was recognized as the 2022 Atlantic Coast Track and Field Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. She received a 2022 Atlantic Coast Postgraduate Scholarship and was named a 2022 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar. She completed her bachelor degree in health and human performance/exercise science in May 2022.
A five-year member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Leon was a member of Student-Athletes of Color Combining Opportunity and Responsibility for Excellence and Los Cardenales, a student-athlete-led Latinx club. She also read to local children as a Read Across America volunteer.
About the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award
Selected from 577 school nominees — a group that was then narrowed to 156 nominees at the conference level — the Top 30 honorees include 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions. Each honoree has demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. The honorees represent 14 sports and include nine multisport student-athletes. They have a variety of majors, including biological and biomedical engineering, psychology, business, digital communications, education, nursing, law and policy, and robotics.
The selection committee will select three honorees from each NCAA division, for a total of nine finalists. From those finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year.
For the first time in the award's history, the NCAA Woman of the Year will be named and the Top 30 will be celebrated at the NCAA Convention, which will be held in January in San Antonio.
Established in 1991, the award recognizes female student-athletes who have completed their undergraduate studies and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers.
Released in conjunction with the NCAA
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