GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Atlantic Coast Conference nominees Gabriela Leon (Louisville track & field) and Jaeda Daniel (NC State tennis) are among the Top 30 honorees for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award as announced by the NCAA on Thursday.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year Award was established in 1991 to recognize graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
 
“We are extremely proud of Gabriela and Jaeda for being selected as Top 30 honorees for this year’s NCAA Woman of the Year Award, and they are each incredibly worth of this well-deserved recognition,” said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. “As a league, we are honored to have Gabriela and Jaeda represent the ACC and all the best in college athletics, excelling in the classroom, competition and their communities.”

Leon and Daniel were each among the top 10 honorees chosen from NCAA Division I conferences. Ten Division II and 10 Division III honorees were also announced on Thursday.

The selection committee will now determine the top three honorees from each division and announce the nine finalists. From those nine 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 Top 30 honorees will be celebrated, and the Woman of the Year named, at the NCAA Convention. The 2023 Convention will take place in January in San Antonio.

Louisville’s Leon completed an outstanding collegiate career, highlighted by a banner 2022 outdoor season. The Grand Rapids, Michigan, native became the program's first women's track and field outdoor national champion when she cleared 4.60m (15' 1") to win the pole vault at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Leon became the fourth-ever collegiate women's pole vaulter with three clearances of 4.60m (15' 1") and the only one this season with three over 4.57m (15' 0") in collegiate competition.
 
Additionally, Leon captured her second straight ACC women's outdoor pole vault title and was named the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Outdoor Women's Field Athlete of the Year, the ACC Women's Outdoor Field Performer of the Year as well as the league's Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Leon was named ACC Women's Field Performer of the Week three times in 2022 and recorded a first-place finish in seven of eight outdoor meets including seven straight wins since the season opener. She set the outdoor school record of 4.61m (15' 1") at the Clark Wood Invitational.
 
An ACC Postgraduate Scholarship recipient and a five-time Louisville Dean's Scholar, Leon graduated from Louisville with a degree in Exercise Science and a career GPA of 3.83. She earned a 4.0 GPA in both the fall and spring semesters of the most recent academic year and was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team. Leon was also named a 2022 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sport Scholar of the Year recipient by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

Leon’s impressive community service resume features extensive work with Louisville youth, including mentoring children at Norton Hospital events, the Read Across America program, volunteering at the Parkland Boys and Girls Club, and letter-writing campaigns such as Valentine’s Letters for St. Jude and Blessings in a Backpack.
 
NC State’s Daniel was the 2022 NCAA champion in doubles alongside playing partner Nell Miller, marking the first national title in Wolfpack women's tennis history and putting an exclamation mark on a decorated career.

The Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, native was one of just five players in the nation to be named an All-American in both singles and doubles in 2022, and she also garnered status as a First Team All-ACC honoree. She is the recipient of this year’s H.C. Kennett Award, the highest athletic honor at NC State.

Daniel finished her last campaign with the Pack ranked No. 1 nationally in doubles and No. 11 in singles. She was part of the first duo in Wolfpack women's tennis history to earn a No. 1 final national ranking and surged as high as a career-best No. 8 in singles during 2021-22.

Daniel compiled 24 singles wins last season, with 16 of those victories coming in dual match play. After playing at the No. 4 singles spot for the majority of the 2021 dual match campaign, she embraced her leadership role at the top of the Wolfpack lineup. In doubles, she collected a team-leading 34 wins, the fourth-most in a single season by any NC State player.

In total for her three-year career at NC State, Daniel amassed 62 singles wins (ninth in program history) and 79 doubles victories (fifth in program history). She was honored as the national winner of the 2022 ITA Most Improved Senior award.

Daniel received her graduate degree in Textiles while earning a spot on the All-ACC Academic Team for the second time and garnering recognition as an ITA Scholar-Athlete.

In addition to serving as an NC State and ACC  Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representative, Daniel’s volunteer community service work has included Victory Junction Hospital, Rise Against Hunger food packaging, the school supply drive for the Raleigh Salvation Army and the Pack United Toy Drive.
 
Leon and Daniel emerged as the ACC’s 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year candidates following a vote of the league’s member schools. The strong list of nominees from member institutions also included:
 
Boston College: Amaka Chukwujekwu (Volleyball); Charlotte North (Lacrosse)
Georgia Tech: Nicole Fegans (Cross Country/Track & Field)
Louisville: Torri Dilfer, Louisville (Volleyball)
Miami: Debbie Ajagbe (Track and Field); Eden Holly Richardson (Tennis)
North Carolina: Rachel Jones (Soccer); Ally Mastroianni (Lacrosse)
NC State: Brandi Hughes (Track & Field)
Notre Dame: Sammi Fisher (Soccer)
Syracuse: Meghan Root (Soccer)
 
To learn more about the award program and previous winners, visit ncaa.org/woty.
 
ACC member institutions claim three past NCAA Women of the Year honorees. Former Notre Dame soccer standout Elizabeth Tucker was named the 2014 NCAA Woman of the Year. Wake Forest’s Annie Bersagel (cross county/track &field) was recognized in 2006, and Virginia’s Peggy Boutilier (field hockey/lacrosse) received the honor in 1998.
 
Of the 577 initial nominees for this year’s honor, 248 were from NCAA Division I schools, 127 from NCAA Division II and 202 from NCAA Division III.
 
The group featured 125 multisport student-athletes, including 78 two-sport student-athletes, 46 three-sport student-athletes and one four-sport student-athlete. The average GPA of the nominee pool was 3.8.