Alyssa Marsh, Asia Seidt, Lindsey Kozelsky Nominated For NCAA Woman of the Year

Alyssa Marsh. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Duke graduate Alyssa Marsh, Kentucky’s Asia Seidt and Minnesota’s Lindsey Kozelsky are three of the 605 female student-athletes that have been nominated for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

Rooted in Title IX, the NCAA Woman of the Year Award was established in 1991 to recognize graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

The nominees represent all three NCAA divisions, including 259 nominees from Division I, 126 from Division II and 220 from Division III. Nominees competed in 24 sports, with multisport student-athletes accounting for 128 of the nominees.

Conference offices will select up to two nominees each from their pool of member school nominees. All nominees who compete in a sport not sponsored by their school’s primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be considered by a selection committee. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division.

From the Top 30, the Woman of the Year selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division and announce nine finalists. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then will choose the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named this fall.

Alyssa Marsh

Alyssa Marsh; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Alyssa Marsh wrapped up a successful career in Durham after being a nine-time All-American and serving as a captain of the Blue Devils her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. A four-time NCAA Championships qualifier, Marsh’s five All-America honors for individual events are the most for a Blue Devil women’s swimmer all-time.

The Davidson, N.C., native will walk away from Duke holding three individual school records and contributing on three school-record relays. Marsh set records in the 50 and 100 freestyle this year at the 2020 ACC Championships while topping the school record in the 100 butterfly at the 2019 NC State Wolfpack Invite. In addition, Marsh also holds the Taishoff pool record in the 100 back and sits second all-time at Duke. In relays, Marsh was a member of record-setting quartets in the 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay and 200 medley relay.

Although the 2020 season resulted in the NCAA Championships being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alyssa Marsh was stellar throughout her final season in the pool. She was seeded sixth in the 100 fly, 11th in the 50 free, and 20th in the 100 free at her final NCAAs. She was named the Female Senior Student-Athlete of the Year for the Blue Devils.

This season, Marsh earned ACC Women’s Swimmer of the Week honors after sweeping all five of her individual events from the weekend in November. On senior day against North Carolina, Marsh clocked a 22.00 50 butterfly split, the fastest relay split in collegiate swimming this season.

In the classroom, Marsh was a three-time CSCAA Scholar All-American and was named to the All-ACC Academic Team in 2019 and 2020.

Asia Seidt

Asia Seidt. Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

Asia Seidt graduated in May, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology with summa cum laude honors. She will attend UK’s Physical Therapy Graduate Program this fall.

Of all swimmers and divers – male or female – who have ever come through the Kentucky swimming and diving program, the Louisville, Kentucky, native holds the most records. She has earned more All-America honors, NCAA Championship podium finishes, SEC Championship medals and All-SEC First Team selections than any UK swimmer or diver, man or woman, that has come before her.

In her (nearly four) years at Kentucky, she has earned 21 All-America honors, 15 SEC Championship medals, eight NCAA Championship podium finishes, four conference titles, one USA Swimming Summer Nationals gold medal and one World University Games silver medal. At NCAAs, she was seeded third in the 200 back, fifth in the 100 back, and sixth in the 200 IM.

Seidt holds five individual school records, was twice named to the USA Swimming National Team, twice qualified for Team USA Olympic Trials, was three times named to the All-SEC First Team, is the 2019 ELITE 90 recipient, 2019 Arthur Ashe Female Sports Scholar of the Year recipient and the 2020 SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient.

Lindsey Kozelsky

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

This past June, Lindsey Kozelsky was named to the 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large second team, completing the academic year with a perfect 4.0 GPA as she earned her master’s degree in teaching. The three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree also received the Lindahl Academic Center Outstanding Student-Athlete Achievement Award at Minnesota’s 2020 Golden Goldys ceremony. Having obtained her bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 2019, Kozelsky spent the entire 2019-20 season not only competing in the pool as one of the top breaststrokers in the country, but also serving as a student teacher at Richfield Elementary School. In addition to her work at Richfield Elementary, Kozelsky also volunteered for Hope Day and the Service to Humanity Gala during her Minnesota tenure.

Even with the heavy workload this past year, Kozelsky closed out her Minnesota career as one of the more decorated Gopher swimmers in recent memory. By hauling in 2020 CSCAA All-America status in the 100 breaststroke and 200 breast, Kozelsky added to her total of 11 All-American accolades from her first three seasons in Maroon & Gold. For her final encore in 2019-20, Kozelsky swam her way to podium finishes in both the 100 breast (third) and 200 breast (seventh) at the Big Ten Championships. She was seeded fifth in the 100 breast and 30th in the 200 breast at what would have been her last NCAA Championships.

On two separate occasions during her senior campaign, Kozelsky was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Week, bringing her career total to five weekly Big Ten accolades. From 2017-19, Kozelsky performed remarkably well at the NCAA Championships, finishing fourth or better in the 100 breast three-consecutive years. Kozelsky also held her own in the 200 breast at the NCAA meet, delivering back-to-back top-10 finishes in the event on the national landscape in both 2018 and 2019. Dating back to her freshman season, Kozelsky even swam on Minnesota’s 2017 Big Ten Champion 200 medley relay team.

Previous NCAA Woman of the Year Winners (Swimming & Diving)

1997: Lisa Coole, Georgia
2000: Kristy Kowal, Georgia
2001: Kim Black, Georgia
2003: Ashley Jo Rowatt Karpinos, Kenyon
2005: Lauryn McCalley, Tennessee
2007: Whitney Myers, Arizona
2009: Lacey Nymeyer, Arizona
2010: Justine Schluntz, Arizona
2015: Kristin Day, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
2016: Margaret Guo, MIT

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Duke & Kentucky Swimming & Diving. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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