BERKELEY – Cal junior Abbey Weitzeil, who set an American record in the 50-yard free and helped Cal to three relay titles at the NCAA Championships last month, is a finalist for the Honda Sport Award for women's swimming & diving.
 
Weitzeil broke her own American record in winning the NCAA crown in the 50 free in 21.02 seconds during the national meet in March. She also helped Cal to three relay championships, including two in U.S. Open record times, as Cal captured the 200 free relay, 400 free relay and 400 medley relay. In addition, Weitzeil was fourth in both the 100 and 200 free.
 
Weitzeil was named the 2019 Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year after she swept three individual events, including a school-record 46.35 in the 100 free, and swam on four winning relays at the conference meet. She has already qualified to represent the United States at the World Championships this summer.
 
A Golden Bear swimmer has won the Honda Sport Award seven previous times – Mary T. Meagher (1985, '87), Natalie Coughlin (2002, '03), Dana Vollmer (2009), Caitlin Leverenz (2012) and Missy Franklin (2015). Both Meagher in 1987 and Franklin in 2015 went on to claim the Honda Cup as the top female student-athlete in all of college athletics.
 
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards for the past 43 years 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 2019 Honda Cup, which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 24, 2019, in Los Angeles.
 
In addition to Weitzeil, the other nominees are Lilly King of Indiana University, Beata Nelson from Wisconsin and Mallory Comerford of Indiana.
 
The nominees were chosen by a panel of coaches representing the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of American (CSCAA). The Honda Sport Award winner for swimming & diving will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.