Former All-American Gymnast Kendall Sanders Named 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Finalist
Former Centenary All-American gymnast Kendall Sanders has been named one of the Top 30 Finalists for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the NCAA announced on Thursday.
Indianapolis, Ind. - Former Centenary All-American gymnast Kendall Sanders has been named one of the Top 30 Finalists for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the NCAA announced on Thursday.
The Woman of the Year Selection Committee has announced the national Top 30 honorees for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, selected from a pool of 156 conference-level nominees.
Selected from 577 school nominees — a group that was then narrowed to 156 nominees at the conference level — the Top 30 honorees include 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions. Each honoree has demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. The honorees represent 14 sports and include nine multisport student-athletes. They have a variety of majors, including biological and biomedical engineering, psychology, business, digital communications, education, nursing, law and policy, and robotics.
"As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX, we recognize the impact of women on college sports and are honored to select 30 incredible student-athletes who have played instrumental roles on their campus, in their community and on their teams," said Renie Shields, chair of the Woman of the Year Selection Committee and senior associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at Saint Joseph's. "This accomplished and diverse group of women represent the millions of student-athletes who have participated in the strong history of women's sports."
Sanders (Spring Branch, Texas) was a five-time USA Gymnastics All-American, earning three first-team honors in 2022 and 2019 and second-team honors in 2020 and 2019. She also was a first-team Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association Division III Regular Season All-American for the all-around in 2022. Sanders earned second-team All-Midwest Independent Conference honors in 2021 for the all-around and floor. She was voted as the Centenary Gymnastics Athlete of the Year for three consecutive years from 2020-22.
The 2022 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America At-Large first-team honoree accrued four WCGA Scholastic All-American awards and three USAG Scholar Athlete recognitions. Sanders was team captain in 2021-22 and helped establish a partnership between the gymnastics team and Mothers Against Drunk Driving in memory of a teammate killed by a drunk driver in 2018. Through the partnership, the team organized a Walk Like MADD fundraiser and shared resources to raise campus awareness. The three-year campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member was inducted into the TriBeta biology honor society and served as the treasurer of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the national health preprofessional honor society. Sanders also volunteered with Common Ground Shreveport, providing local families with food, clothing and educational resources.
The selection committee will select three honorees from each NCAA division, for a total of nine finalists. From those finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year.
For the first time in the award's history, the NCAA Woman of the Year will be named and the Top 30 will be celebrated at the NCAA Convention, which will be held in January in San Antonio.
Established in 1991, the award recognizes female student-athletes who have completed their undergraduate studies and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers.
Full release: ncaa.org/woty
