AUBURN, Ala. – Freshman Sunisa Lee was named one of four final candidates for gymnastics' Honda Award. The Honda Award goes to the top collegiate female athlete in 12 different sports each season.
Lee is coming off a successful NCAA Championship where she helped lead the Tigers to the program's first appearance in the NCAA Final Four. She earned an NCAA beam individual championship after scoring a 9.9625 in the event. She was also runner-up in the all-around with a 39.675.
Lee totaled four All-America honors at the NCAA Championships. She was first team in the all-around, beam and floor and second team on bars.
The 2022 WCGA Regional Gymnast of the Year also was named the SEC Freshman of the Year earlier this season and garnered four regular season All-America honors. She was a first team selection in the all-around, bars and beam and was second team on floor.
In addition, she was placed on the All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman teams.
Lee became Auburn's first SEC champion since 1994 when she won the conference bars title with a perfect 10.0. Overall, she's won seven all-around titles this year as well as 10 bars crowns, nine beam titles, three floor titles and one on vault.
The St. Paul, Minnesota product became the first Auburn gymnast to record a 10.0 since 2004 and has five on the season so far – two on bars and three on beam. She finished the regular season ranked second nationally in the all-around, while being first nationally on bars and beam.
Lee set the Auburn all-around record with a 39.825 and six of her all-around scores rank in the top 10 in program history.
She was named SEC Gymnast of the Week three times this year and SEC Freshman of the Week twice.
About the Award:
The Honda Sports Award is presented annually by the CWSA 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. The nominees were chosen by a group of experts representing the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA).
The CWSA presents the Honda Sports Award annually to top women student-athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports. Honda Sports award winners will be presented with the honor during on-campus presentations throughout the year and all Honda Sports award winners become a finalist for the prestigious 2022 Honda Cup award. The Cup is presented on a CBS Sports Network broadcast from Los Angeles on June 27 at 9 p.m. ET.
The Collegiate Women Sports Awards has honored the nation's top NCAA women athletes for 46 years, recognizing superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service. Since commencing its sponsorship 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 at the institutions.