INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Honors Committee has named the recipients of the NCAA Today's Top VIII Awards.
The Today's Top VIII Award winners are a group of distinguished student-athletes from the 2004 calendar year who will be recognized for their academic and athletics achievements, character and leadership at the 40th annual NCAA Honors Dinner Sunday, January 9, at the NCAA Convention in Grapevine, Texas.
The Today's Top VIII are:
Kelly Albin, University of California, Davis, lacrosse, was named first-team all-American by a number of organizations. The NCAA also named her Woman of the Year and a recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 2004.
Caesar Garcia, Auburn University, swimming and diving, was the NCAA Diver of the Year in 2003-04 and a member of the U.S. Olympic Diving Team. Garcia also made the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll for four consecutive years 2001-04.
Tara Kirk, Stanford University, swimming and diving, has taken first place at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in the 100-meter breaststroke four times and the 200-meter breaststroke three times. She also is an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship recipient.
Kelly Mazzante, Pennsylvania State University, women’s basketball, is an all-American and a current member of the Charlotte Sting in the WNBA. She also was the Suzie Favor Big Ten Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
Kay Mikolajczak, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, women’s basketball and outdoor track and field, was a fourth-place finisher in the heptathlon in the Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championship and was a first-team selection for WBCA/Kodak all-American Basketball Team. She also is an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient.
Ogonna Nnamani, Stanford University, women’s volleyball, was a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Volleyball Team. She also was a first-team ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic all-American.
Angela Ruggiero, Harvard University, women’s ice hockey, is a two-time USA Hockey Women’s Player of the Year and an Olympic gold and silver medalist. She also is a CoSIDA Academic all-American.
Kelly Wilson, University of Texas at Austin, women’s soccer, was an all-American and a candidate for the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year. She also is the recipient of the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete Award in 2004.
The NCAA Today's Top VIII honorees are selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, which comprises eight athletics administrators at member institutions and nationally distinguished citizens who are former students-athletes. The committee members are: Cedric W. Dempsey, president emeritus, NCAA; Clyde Doughty Jr., athletics director, New York Institute of Technology; Jo Ann Harper, director of athletics, Dartmouth College; Susan Hartmann, professor of history, Ohio State University; Calvin Hill, consultant, Alexander & Associates, Inc.; Karen Johnson, director of institutional research, Alfred University; and Valerie A. Richardson, chair of the NCAA Honors Committee and associate athletics director and senior women’s administrator, University of California, Santa Barbara.
