Meet the nominees for All-USA Today HSSA Girls Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Year

These 24 standouts will be honored as nominees for national Softball Player of the Year.

The USA TODAY High School Sports Awards is pleased to announce the 2021-22 All-USA TODAY HSSA Girls Swimming & Diving Team!

These 24 standouts will be honored as nominees for national Softball Player of the Year. The winner and three finalists will be revealed on July 31 during an on-demand broadcast. This year will feature top athletes in 29 boys and girls sports awards categories as well as special honors like Special Olympics Athlete of the Year, Rising Star and Play of the Year. 

All national nominees must register to provide show information and receive important updates regarding the show. To register, click on the “REGISTER” button on the event website.

Here are the nominees…

2021-22 All-USA TODAY HSSA Girls Swimming & Diving:

Lucy Bell

Fossil Ridge High School (Colorado) — SR

Berit Berglund

Carmel High School (Indiana) — JR

Grace Courtney

Wyoming High School (Ohio) — SR

Claire Curzan

Cardinal Gibbons High School (North Carolina) — SR

Zoe Dixon

Mills E. Godwin High School (Virginia) — SR

Sophie Duncan

Holton-Arms School (Maryland) — SR

Erin Gemmell

Stone Ridge School (Maryland) — JR

Cavan Gormsen

Sacred Heart Academy (New York) — JR

Leah Hayes

Kaneland Maple Park High School (Illinois) — SO

Tess Howley

Sacred Heart Academy (New York) — JR

Lydia Jacoby

Seward High School (Alaska) — SR

Kyleigh Kidd

Carroll Senior High School (Texas) — SR

Justina Kozan

Santa Margarita Catholic High School (California) — SR

Charlotte Martinkus

Weston High School (Massachusetts) — SR

Hayden Miller

Cypress Creek High School (Texas) — SR

Kennedy Noble

Millennium High School (Arizona) — SR

Carly Novelline

New Trier High School (Illinois) — SR

Joslyn Oakley

Langtree Charter Academy (North Carolina) — SR

Kristina Paegle

Bloomington South High School (Indiana) — SR

Victoria Sanders

Discovery Canyon Campus School (Colorado) — SR

Camille Spink

Battlefield High School (Virginia) — JR

Blair Stoneburg

Jensen Beach High School (Florida) — SR

Lucy Thomas

Brookfield East High School (Wisconsin) — JR

Claire Tuggle

Saint Joseph High School (California) — SR

NIL education, resource platform launched to help navigate recruitment process

With variance in NIL rules state-by-state, Eccker Sports launched a platform to provide information and resources to recruits, families and coaches.

Regardless of stance on whether college athletes should be allowed to profit off name, image and likeness, one facet of the NIL debate is largely agreed upon from both sides: There’s uncertainty in the rules that govern athletes’ allowances, rules that lack structure and vary for high school recruits from state to state.

As it currently stands across the country, there’s widespread variability, with seven states permitting athletes to profit off their name and likeness, 17 states considering changing bylaws and 26 states prohibiting it. The inconsistency adds extra difficulties in recruiting because athletes must know how signing a deal that guarantees college money could affect their high school eligibility.

In Texas, for instance, NIL deals are not allowed for high school athletes. And that restriction — and potentially its lack of clarity in Texas — played a role in the No. 1 football recruit in the class of 2022, Quinn Ewers, skipping his senior year of high school in favor of enrolling at Ohio State early and signing an NIL deal reportedly worth $1.4 million.

“I do think that there’s going to be some lawmakers at some point that are probably talking about it, but it’s going to take years,” said Vandegrift (Texas) High School head coach Drew Sanders. “…Parents want to make sure that they’re not doing anything that would get them in trouble eligibility-wise … This is all brand-new for everybody, so I have really zero experience with this. As a coach, I’m not really sure where to steer them to.”

Uncertainty in the immediate wake of sports legislation is nothing new, whether league-specific like the NFL’s concussion protocol or broad, widespread changes like Title IX.

Ten months since the passage of the NIL policy, the aftermath perhaps most closely mirrors that of the NCAA’s mid-1980s adoption of Prop 48, which mandated a minimum for high school grades and college entrance exams scores. Today, it’s a standard model. But when it was passed, it was controversial.

“It threw the entire market into a tailspin because it really changed the way the NCAA ruled on eligibility,” said Randy Eccker, a longtime figure in the sports digital media and technology landscape. “It completely changed the dynamic, but nobody took the time to go in and educate the high school market on what it meant to them and how to do it.”

While the implementation of Prop 48 lacked the resources for affected athletes, Eccker hopes to lead the charge in this next wave of sports ecosystem education. His platform Eccker Sports announced on Monday the launch of an educational services platform that will target high school students, coaches, teachers and administrators with resources including video curriculum, state-by-state information, tools for coaches to educate their communities and a network of legal, financial and tax experts.

The website is the exclusive high school partner of Game Plan, a platform with partnerships at the collegiate and professional level that provides learning resources, career planning and other developmental programs to athletes.

Pricing for the Eccker Sports resource hub varies state to state, Eccker said.

“Fast-forward even 10 years and this will be a normal part of the athletic landscape and the athletic education landscape, but today, when we’ve gone in and talked to coaches and administrators at the high school level, there’s a lot of fear and trepidation because it’s so new,” Eccker said.

The need for education on NIL is more expansive than finding a deal without affecting high school eligibility. Chuck Schmidt, Vice President and Executive Director of High School for Playfly Sports and the former COO of the Arizona Interscholastic Association, said that high schoolers whose parents’ jobs take them to different states might be unexpectedly affected. Tax obligations must be outlined for athletes. Athletes and families who see a chance for an influx of money but don’t know the laws could be exploited, whether by signing with someone who isn’t qualified, agreeing to have large percentages of money taken by the agent, or accidentally signing a deal to grant likeness to a brand in perpetuity without realizing the long-term implications.

Athletes’ rights took an enormous step forward with the passage of NIL allowances. Still, the lack of structure at a national level is creating confusion and potential long-term, unforeseen consequences. Eccker and Tim Prukop, the Chief Commercial Officer of the Eccker Sports resource hub, hope the new platform can help athletes and families build effective NIL strategies.

“NIL is just thrown around how great it is for kids to be able to do that, but there’s always something else that starts developing after decisions are made,” Schmidt said. “It’s an environment where every state has its own traditions, law, state law and that culture. Education … is going to be very critical to the success of what’s about to come.”

NCSA: How to get recruited for women’s college swimming

High school girls swimmers interested in competing at the next level should check out this breakdown from NCSA.

Jeff is a former college swimmer and coach at an NCAA DIII program. Jeff is just one of many former college and professional athletes and coaches who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community has made it the largest and most successful collegiate athletic recruiting network in the country.

Which women’s college swimming program is right for you? With a total of 627 women’s swimming programs across the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and the NJCAA and CCCAA, this isn’t an easy question to answer. It’s also just one of many questions you’ll find yourself asking during the college recruiting process.

While only you can decide what swimming program is right for you, NCSA can help you through the decision-making process with our guide to women’s college swimming recruiting.

NCAA Swimming Recruiting Rules and Calendar

The NCAA established a new set of recruiting rules for the 2019-2020 season that may change a decade-long trend of later recruiting in college swimming. Rather than waiting until senior year, college coaches believe that student-athletes will begin committing to programs as juniors, now that communication between coaches and athletes is permitted beginning June 15 after the athlete’s sophomore year. Earlier commitments mean that student-athletes and their families need to prepare for recruiting, as scholarship money will diminish earlier in the process.

Read more: 2019-2020 NCAA Women’s Swimming Recruiting Rules and Calendar

Swimming Recruiting Times

Do you have what it takes to swim for an NCAA women’s swimming program? NCSA’s team of swimming experts created a guide to college swimming recruiting times based on qualifying times for major swim meets and a strong understanding of college coaches’ expectations at each division levels. For example, most elite Division I women’s swimming recruits can swim the 100 Freestyle in 47.3 seconds, compared to swimmers at the Division II and Division III levels who clock in between 49.9 and 50.9 seconds.

Visit NCSA’s guide to college swimming recruiting times to see what division level you are best suited for based on your current swim times.

The Recruiting Process

June 15 after your sophomore year may be when college coaches can begin contacting you, but your college recruiting process starts long before this date. Below is a list of steps all student-athletes and their families should take leading up to June 15:

  • Researching swimming programs: Women’s college swimming programs are offered at more than 550 four-year colleges and universities. Your first step in the recruiting process is to research these programs to build a list of prospective schools. Here is a comprehensive list of colleges with women’s swimming.
  • Build a recruiting profile: To increase your visibility and exposure to college coaches, create a strong recruiting profile that coaches can reference to evaluate your swim times and academic stats. Create a free NCSA recruiting profile.
  • Create a highlight video: College coaches aren’t there to evaluate your technique at swim practice and they won’t always be at competitions where you swim a best time. Luckily, you can capture your technique and performance at swim meets in a highlight video for college coaches to review. Learn how to make a highlight video.
  • Attend swim camps: Competitive swim camps are a great way for you to improve your reaction time off the block, stroke technique, transitions and race finish. When hosted by a college swim program, these camps also serve as an opportunity for you to explore campus and the facilities. Find a swim camp near you.
  • Contacting college coaches: You won’t hear from college coaches interested in recruiting you until after June 15 of your sophomore year, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reach out to express interest in a college swimming program. This is your guide to writing a recruiting letter.

How to Get a Swimming Scholarship

Women’s college swimming is extremely competitive, so you’ll need to be proactive when pursuing an athletic scholarship. While the NCAA sets a limit on how many full-ride equivalent scholarships each team can award, not every college swimming program has a fully funded scholarship budget. Whether a college coach is awarding a full ride or partial scholarship funding, they prioritize student-athletes who have the potential to score the team the most points during dual meets and the end-of-season conference meet. Do your research and talk to college coaches to determine what scholarship opportunities are available at your prospective schools.

If you’re not ready for a four-year college just yet, the NJCAA and CCCAA institutions offer women’s swimming programs and scholarships. After two years, you can transfer to an NCAA or NAIA school and try for a scholarship package.

Read more: Women’s College Swimming Scholarships

 Top Ranked Women’s Swimming Colleges

Each year, NCSA releases Power Rankings that list the top NCAA and NAIA schools that offer women’s swimming. This report analyzes various factors that student-athletes and their families consider when selecting the right college fit, including cost, size, location and academics. View a fill list of colleges offering women’s swim teams