Cal Swimming: Cal's Abbey Weitzeil wins Prestigious Honda Sports Award

Cal senior Abbey Weitzeil, who in December became the first woman in history to swim the 50-yard freestyle in under 21 seconds, has earned the prestigious Honda Sport Award for swimming, it was announced Tuesday.

The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States that is given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of 12 sports. This year only seven such awards were presented because the seasons for five women's sports were wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. Winners are selected by a panel of more than 1,000 NCAA administrators.

Weitzeil is the sixth Cal swimmer to receive the honor, following Mary T. Meagher (1985, 1987), Natalie Coughlin (2002, 2003), Dana Vollmer (2009), Caitlin Leverenz (2012) and Missy Franklin (2015).

"I am so incredibly honored to be the recipient of the Honda Sport Award for swimming this year," Weitzeil said in a statement released by the Cal sports information department. "It is so special to have my name next to the other Cal swimmers that have won in the past. They are a major part of Cal's history and legacy, and to be able to add my name to that list and represent Cal this year is amazing. This would not have been possible without my coaches, teammates, staff and support system that all helped me through this last year, and so I send a huge thank you to all of them, as well. Go Bears!"

Weitzeil's season was shortened by the sports shutdown that resulted from the COVID-19 Pandemic. It prevented Weitzeil from competing in the NCAA swimming and diving championships, which were scheduled to take place March 18-21.

***Pat Forde of Sports Illutrated notes in the video that many seniors had their final college season interrupted or canceled.

Weitzeil was preparing for the 2020 Olympics in Japan, but now she has an extra year to get ready for those Summer Games, which were postponed until 2021.

In December, she lowered her American record in the 50 freestyle to 20.90 seconds at the Minnesota Invitational in Minneapolis. She has held the American record in the event since March 4, 2016.

Later in the 2019-20 season, Weitzeil broke the Pac-12 meet record in the 50 free when she won the race in 21.03 seconds.

"The Honda Award is the premier honor available for female collegiate student-athletes, and I'm thrilled for Abbey that she is this year's recipient for swimming," Cal head coach Teri McKeever said in a statement. "She had an outstanding season and seemed to set a record almost every time she raced, highlighted by her American record in the 50 free this past December. As one of our co-captains, Abbey was also a terrific leader in and out of the pool, and I expect we'll see even more from her in the years ahead."

Weitzeil was also a finalist for the Honda Sport Award last year when she was voted the 2019 Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year.

Last month she became a finalist for the AAU Sullivan Award given to the top amateur athlete in the country.