Caitlin Clark wins Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year
Another day, another award for the best player in women’s basketball. Just a couple of days after winning the CWSA Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year award, Caitlin Clark was named Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year. She becomes the eighth Hawkeye athlete to win the award (men’s or women’s) and the third in the past five seasons.
Each school nominates one finalist for the award and Caitlin beat out notable names, including Mackenzie Holmes (Indiana women’s basketball), Diamond Miller (Maryland women’s basketball), Sophia Gladieux (Penn State field hockey) and Izzy Scane (Northwestern lacrosse).
Caitlin becomes the third Hawkeye to win the female athlete of the year award joining Kristy Gleason (field hockey, 1994) and Megan Gustafson (women’s basketball, 2019). She also becomes the ninth women’s basketball student-athlete to win the award, joining notable names like Stephanie White (Purdue, 1999), Katie Douglas (Purdue, 2001), Kelly Mazzante (Penn State, 2004) and Rachel Banham (Minnesota, 2016).
This past season for the Hawkeyes, she averaged 27.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 8.6 assists for an Iowa team that finished 31-7 and reached the Final Four for the first time since 1993. Caitlin has led the country in points and assists per game for each of the last two seasons, while needing just 811 points this coming season to break the NCAA women’s basketball scoring secord set by Washington’s Kelsey Plum (2013-2017).
Clark was rewarded for her outstanding season with a laundry list of awards, including the Naismith, Wooden, Wade and Ann Drysdale Awards. She was also named the Nancy Lieberman PG of the Year and Big Ten Player of the Year, both for the second time, and became the first-ever three-time winner of the Dawn Staley Award.
Caitlin met for the media on Wednesday for the first time since the Final Four and said that it took some time to decompress after a 38 game season that included a trip to the Final Four.
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“I tried to take a month to myself to relax because it was a very exhausting run for myself physically, mentally, and emotionally,” said Clark. “I’ve tried to work on is taking time to myself and making sure my mental, emotional, and physical state are healthy…the coaches made sure I wasn’t in the gym too soon which was very hard for me because I’m just somebody that loves to be in the gym.”
Coming up, Caitlin will be out on the course instead of in the gym, as she is set to play in the John Deere Classic Pro-Am with Iowa native, PGA Tour pro and Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson. The event will take place on Wednesday, July 5th at TPC Deere Run Golf Course in Silvis, IL.
“I’m super excited and I’m a big golf fan,” said Clark. “Zach Johnson’s a big Iowa name, a big name on tour and is going to be the captain of the Ryder Cup team, so definitely an easy yes…Coach Bluder is letting me out of a lift that day, so shoutout to her.”
“I’ll probably be way more nervous for this, than I am a basketball game,” she said. “I’ve never been to a PGA Tour event. I’ve been to the Solheim Cup when it was in Des Moines…cool honor and just going to try to soak it in.”
