Tag: Athlete of the Year

Caitlin Clark named TIME Athlete of the Year

Caitlin Clark is TIME’s 2024 Athlete of the Year.

After a phenomenal WNBA Rookie of the Year campaign with the Indiana Fever, former Iowa Hawkeye point guard Caitlin Clark has been named TIME’s 2024 Athlete of the Year.

The honor for Clark is recognition of her historic efforts as the leader of Iowa’s women’s basketball team that played for a national championship in a second-consecutive season and for her WNBA Rookie of the Year Award and league record-setting campaign.

In her first professional season with the Indiana Fever, Clark averaged 19.2 points, a WNBA-best 8.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 35.4 minutes per game. Along with leading the league in assists, Clark was first in 3-pointers (122) and second in minutes per game and free throw percentage (90.6%). She was seventh overall in league scoring.

When asked by TIME what her best overall moment was from 2024, Clark struggled to pinpoint a singular moment and instead reflected on her triumphs from the national championship game run with Iowa to her sensational rookie season with the Fever.

“I feel like so much has happened over the course of the last year, from when I started my last college season, and not knowing if that would actually be my last season, whether I was deciding to come back to college or turn pro, and now sitting here, like, I’m done with my first professional season, and so much has happened.

“And whether it was, you know, making the National Championship game or getting the Fever back to the playoffs since 2016, there’s just a lot to be proud of. It happens so fast, like, it’s hard to appreciate in the moment, and kind of understand in the moment, but it’s been fun to reflect on,” Clark said.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

While Clark’s athleticism on the court is sensational, her appeal off the court is also a major factor in her Athlete of the Year recognition.

With Clark as its superstar, the Fever appeared in the most-watched WNBA games ever on ABC, CBS, ESPN, and ESPN2 this past season. The WNBA also attracted an all-time record of more than 54 million unique viewers across all its national broadcasting platforms during the regular season, and the league’s overall attendance jumped 48% year over year to its highest level in more than two decades.

Clark’s fame and influence allowed the Fever to break the WNBA record for home attendance by a single franchise and even forced games to be moved to NBA and NHL arenas in Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., to accommodate the hordes of fans.

While the distinction of TIME’s Athlete of the Year is high praise, Clark will have her eyes set on improving the Fever’s performance next season in hopes of capturing the franchise’s first WNBA title since 2012.

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Jayda Coleman, Vernon Turner nominated for 2022-2023 Big 12 Athlete of the Year

Oklahoma’s Jayda Coleman and Vernon Turner are the Sooners nominees for Big 12 Athlete of the Year.

The 2022-2023 athletic season has come to a close as we approach the start of the 2023-2024 season.

Two Oklahoma Sooners were nominated for Big 12 Athlete of the Year. One was softball star Jayda Coleman and the other was track and field star Vernon Turner.

Coleman started every game for the record-setting 61-1 Sooners who won the program’s third straight national championship. She was named the 2023 Big 12 Player of the Year. She was also an NFCA first team All-American selection for the third straight season.

She led the Big 12 in home runs (17), runs (71) and on-base slugging percentage (1.321).

She also led the Women’s College World Series with five runs scored, earning WCWS all-tournament team honors.

Off the field, she was selected to the OU president’s honor roll with a 4.0 GPA in the fall and to the dean’s honor roll with a 3.5-plus semester GPA in the spring.

Turner was named the 2023 Big 12 Men’s Outdoor Performer of the Year. He won the Big 12 men’s indoor and outdoor high jump titles while tying his school record in the outdoor high jump.

He was the runner-up in the men’s high jump at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships.

Off the field, he is pursuing a master’s degree in public relations and is a three-time Academic All-Big 12 first-team honoree. He volunteered at Norman high schools, teaching students about the importance of human relations.

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The 2022-23 Big 12 Athlete of the Year nominees will be featured each day at 10 a.m. CT and 2 p.m. CT, listed in alphabetical order by school through Friday, July 28.

Each institution nominated one male and one female athlete of any classification that competed for the institution during the school year. Student-athletes were required to be in good academic standing and had to be from a league-sponsored sport.

The 10 schools that competed during the 2022-23 academic year are eligible.

The winners will be announced Monday, July 31. Stay tuned to Big12Sports.com and the league’s social media platforms to see the rest of the candidates.

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