University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia's Joyce Wins Honda Award For Swimming
March 26, 2007 | Swimming & Diving
The Honda Award is given annually to the top female athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program. Joyce now is automatically nominated for the Honda-Broderick Cup, which will be presented in June to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
Georgia now has had the Honda Award for swimming and diving recipient in back-to-back years. Mary DeScenza claimed the honor in 2006, when Joyce also was a finalist.
Joyce, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich., was chosen for the Honda Award in voting done by 1,000 NCAA member schools. The other finalists were Stanford's Cassidy Krug, Arizona¹s Whitney Myers and Cal's Dana Vollmer.
"I could not be prouder than I am of Kara Lynn Joyce for representing the University of Georgia the way she has the last four years," Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle said. "She's been a great ambassador for our school and for our sport in and out of the pool. We are going to miss her so much. She has been a remarkable competitor. She certainly is deserving of the Honda Award for everything she's done."
Joyce capped her career by winning the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events at the NCAA Championship, becoming only the second woman ever to claim four straight national titles in two events. She earned both National Swimmer of Year and Southeastern Conference Swimmer of Year honors for the second straight time. Joyce is second all-time with 18 national titles (nine individual and nine relays) and she won nine individual SEC titles.
Previously announced Honda Sports Award recipients include Nebraska's Sarah Pavan for volleyball; North Carolina's Heather O'Reilly for soccer; Maryland's Paula Infante for field hockey and Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego for cross-country. Honda Sports Award winners in basketball, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, softball, tennis, and track and field will be announced in the coming months. The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions. The winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup at Columbia University in New York in late June 2007.
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. sponsors the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program.
