Three from the Pac-12 are finalists for the Honda Cup

SAN FRANCISCO – Three Pac-12 student-athletes who won the Honda Sport Award in their sport are finalists for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious Honda Cup. UCLA softball’s Rachel Garcia, Colorado cross country’s Dani Jones and Stanford volleyball’s Kathryn Plummer were chosen as the Honda Sport Award Winner for their respective sport by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. The Honda Cup award winner will be announced live during the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Show on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 24, at 6 pm PT, from the USC Galen Center Founders Room in Los Angeles, Calif.

The Honda Sports Award acknowledges athletic, academic and community achievements, and is given to female athletes in 12 different NCAA-sanctioned sports throughout the year. Each Honda Sports Award winner is recognized as the top-collegiate female athlete in her sport. The top three finalists for Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year are chosen from among the 12 Honda Sports Award winners and will also be announced on Monday, June 24 during the Collegiate Women Sports Award show.

A Pac-12 student-athlete has won the prestigious Honda Cup award the last two years and three of the last four years. In total, 13 Pac-12 student-athletes from five league schools from six different sports have previously been named the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. The Pac-12’s 13 honorees are more than double the amount of any conference, with the SEC having the second-most winners with six followed by the American Athletic Conference with five. The five different Pac-12 schools with at least one Honda Cup award winner is also the most of any conference. Stanford and UCLA have four previous honorees each and are tied with Connecticut for the most of any school.

UCLA’s junior standout pitcher Rachel Garcia won the Honda Sport Award for softball for the second year in a row after leading the Bruins to its 13th NCAA title. The Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Women's College World Series, back-to-back USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and the 2019 Pac-12 Conference Player and Pitcher of the Year is one of the most accomplished student-athletes from the most decorated softball program in the country. Hailing from Palmdale, Calif., she led the Bruins with a 1.14 earned run average, a 29-1 record, four saves and 286 strikeouts in 202 innings. She went 9-0 in the 2019 NCAA Tournament with a 1.49 ERA, 79 strikeouts and a team-best 16 RBI. She led all postseason players in wins and RBI. On the season, she hit .343 with 11 home runs, 57 RBI and a Bruin-best 35 walks.

Colorado senior Dani Jones was the 2018 NCAA cross country individual champion, leading her team to the national title for the first time in 14 years. Originally from Phoenix, Ariz., she is just the second woman in program history to win an individual NCAA cross country title. She was also named the 2018 United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Female Athlete of the Year, USTFCCCA All-American for the third time and Pac-12 Athlete of the Year for the second time. She won a national individual title in the outdoor season as well, claiming the NCAA 5,000-meter title. Jones is majoring in psychology a well as speech, language and hearing sciences and is a three-time Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention.

Kathryn Plummer, a junior outside hitter from the 2018 NCAA Champion Stanford women’s volleyball team, and native of Aliso Viejo, Calif. is a two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Player of the Year, espnW Player of the Year and Pac-12 Player of the Year. She is the first player since 2002 to win back-to-back AVCA Player of the Year honors and is a three-time AVCA first-team All-American. She led the Cardinal to two NCAA titles in the last three years (2016, 2018) and was the co-Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament in 2018. Plummer has been named to the All-Conference team every year of her career on The Farm and led the Pac-12 this season in kills (545), points (623) and points per set (5.4). A human biology major, she is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention for maintaining a grade-point average above 3.0.

PREVIOUS PAC-12 HONDA CUP AWARD WINNERS