Kate Douglass named Honda Sport Award Winner for Swimming & Diving

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia junior Kate Douglass was named the Honda Sport Award winner for Swimming & Diving.

The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 46 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 2022 Honda Cup, which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on June 27th at 9 pm EST.

Douglass was chosen by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Finalists included Katharine Berkoff (North Carolina State), Tarrin Gilliland (Indiana) and Alex Walsh (Virginia). Douglass is the sixth Virginia student-athlete to win the award.

She joins Lesley Welch (Cross Country, 1983), Dawn Staley (basketball, 1991 & 1992), Amy Appelt (lacrosse, 2004) and Danielle Collins (tennis, 2016) as UVA Honda Award winners. Staley also went on to win the Honda Cup as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year in 1991.

“I am so honored to receive the Honda Sport Award for swimming and diving,” Douglass said. “I share this award with my awesome teammates and coaches at the University of Virginia. What we accomplished this year was absolutely amazing and I’m so grateful to be a part of this team. Go Hoos!”

Douglass was named the 2022 College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) and ACC Women’s Swimmer of the Year. The 21-time All-American captured three individual NCAA titles (50-yard free, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard breast) at the 2022 NCAA Championship and four relay NCAA Championships, setting American records in all three individual NCAA wins. Overall, she has eight career NCAA titles and led Virginia to its second consecutive NCAA Championship in 2022.

Hailing from Pelham, N.Y., the junior also boasts 18 ACC titles overall, including three individual titles in 2022 (50-yard free, 100-yard free, 100-yard butterfly) and is a 21-time All-ACC performer. Douglass set a school record in the 50-free and a meet record in the 100 fly at the 2022 ACC Championship.

Competing as a member of the U.S. National Team in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, she captured a bronze medal in the 200 IM.

In the classroom, she is the 2022 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

“Excited for Kate to be honored with this award,” Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “It’s a testament to her commitment to excellence, both in the pool and the classroom. She continues to develop as an athlete and a person and I’m proud to see where she is, and for her to be recognized in this way, after three years of collegiate experience. The exciting thing is that the best is yet to come. Kate is deserving of this award and it’s always nice to see a student-athlete’s hard work and dedication pay off and be recognized”.

The CWSA, entering its 46th year, has honored the nation’s top NCAA women athletes for their superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service. Since commencing its partnership in 1986, Honda has provided more than $3.4 million in institutional grants to the universities of the award winners and nominees to support women’s athletics programs.