University of New Hampshire Athletics
7/12/2022 12:00:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving
As 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, this year's NCAA Woman of the Year award provides an important opportunity to honor incredible women and reflect on the impact of women on intercollegiate sports. In 2022, nearly 220,000 women are competing in college sports, and the NCAA received 577 nominations for this prestigious award.
Metzler, who was named the America East Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year for a third straight season, posted a 3.95 GPA as a Biomedical Science major, was the America East Elite 18 Award Winner in 2021. She was the America East Women's Swimming & Diving Scholar Athlete of the Year (2021, 2020) and was a three-time America East All-Academic Team selection (2020, 2021, 2022). Metzler is also a two-time America East Commissioner's Honor Roll honoree (2019, 2020) and has been named to UNH's Dean List every semester on campus. She was recently named a 2021-22 CoSIDA Academic All-District Women's At-Large Team selection for her efforts in the classroom.
She competed at the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year in the 400 IM, 200 IM and the 200 back. She earned individual titles in the 200 IM (1:59.04) and the 200 fly (2:00.96) at the most recent America East Championships and was part of four UNH relay teams to place second on the weekend.
"Anna continues to be a source of pride for us," said UNH head coach Josh Willman. "She is one of the most accomplished individuals athletically and academically to have ever competed for New Hampshire and this is truly an honor for our program, the department and the university"
The NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2022.
Next, conference offices will select their nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year. Each conference nominee will be notified by the NCAA, and all conference-round nominees will be announced on ncaa.org in August. Conference nominations are forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee, which identifies the top 10 honorees in each of the three NCAA divisions. From those 30 honorees, the selection committee then determines the three finalists in each division for a total of nine finalists. The Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year from the nine finalists.
For the first time in the award's history, the award ceremony will take place during the NCAA Convention in January, giving the Top 30 honorees a chance to celebrate their achievements alongside their families, coaches, and administrators attending the 2023 NCAA Convention.
For 32 years, this program has honored the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of outstanding female college athletes. Rooted in Title IX and directed by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics, the NCAA Woman of the Year program celebrates the accomplishments of female college athletes across all three NCAA divisions.
You can learn more about the award program, next steps and previous winners by visiting ncaa.org/woty.
