The University of Toledo has selected senior Kennedy Lovell of the women’s swimming and diving team to be nominated for the 2023 NCAA Division I Women of the Year Award.
Lovell earned second-team All-MAC honors, the second of her career, following her five podium finishes at the 2023 MAC Swimming and Diving Championships. Lovell recorded 20 top-10 individual finishes, including six event wins, during the 2022-23 season. The Girard, Ill., native went on to swim five events at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships and finished 62nd at the CSCAA Open Water 5K Championships in Biscayne Bay, Fla. Lovell holds the program record in the 100 freestyle (49.62) and 200 freestyle (1:47.17), which she established both during the 2021-22 season.
UToledo selected senior Kennedy Lovell of the women’s swimming and diving team to be nominated for the 2023 NCAA Division I Women of the Year Award.
Lovell served as Toledo’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) president during the 2022-23 academic year. She also earned Academic All-MAC honors for the fourth time in her career, was named to the 2023 CSC Academic All-District Team and earned President’s List honors with a 4.0 GPA in the 2023 spring semester. Lovell received her bachelor’s degree in English and communications from UToledo in 2022 and is currently working towards a master’s degree in literature.
Earlier this year, Lovell was selected as the MAC’s female student-athlete representative to attend the 2023 NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum in Baltimore last April.
Following the nomination from individual institutions, the Mid-American Conference will select two nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year, and then forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee.
The selection committee will choose the Top 30 honorees (10 from each division) to be announced in October, with the top three finalists from each division to be announced in November. The 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year Award ceremony will take place at the NCAA Convention in Phoenix in January 2024.
The NCAA had a record-breaking 619 female student-athletes nominated for the national award. This year’s pool of nominees represents a diverse set of student-athletes from 24 different sports across all three NCAA divisions: 264 from Division I, 128 from Division II and 227 from Division III. Since 1991, the award has recognized graduating female student-athletes for her excellence in four pillars of academic (average 3.76 GPA), athletics, community service and leadership throughout her collegiate career.
