Former Golden Bear swimmer Rachael Acker has been named one of the top 30 honorees for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
 
The NCAA selection committee will name nine finalists – three women from each division – in late September. From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2016 Woman of the Year, who will be announced Oct. 16 at a ceremony in Indianapolis.
 
One of the most decorated Golden Bears ever for her work in the classroom, Acker was the 2015-16 Pac-12 Woman of the Year, a three-time Academic All-American, the 2016 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's swimming & diving, and recipient of the Neufeld Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest GPA among Cal's graduating female student-athletes.
 
Acker graduated in May with a 3.96 GPA as a French major on a pre-med track. She is currently studying at the University of Rennes in France as a Fulbright Scholar. A finalist for the University Medal as the top graduate at UC Berkeley, Acker received a certificate of distinction from the French department and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Premedical Honor Society.
 
In the pool, Acker was an All-American freestyler who was a member of Cal's 800-yard free relay that captured the NCAA championship in 2014. She helped the Bears to the national team title a year later and was the 2013 Pac-12 champion in the 200-yard freestyle.
 
A record 517 women were nominated by their schools for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, a total that was whittled down to 142 conference nominees. The committee selected 30 women from that pool – 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions – representing 13 sports and a host of undergraduate majors, including biology, accounting, criminal justice, education, engineering and computer science.
 
"This year's top 30 honorees have achieved remarkable things during their time in college," said Sarah Hebberd, chair of the Woman of the Year selection committee and director of compliance at the University of Georgia. "They are model student-athletes for generations of young women to come, and we are immeasurably proud of their accomplishments."