TEMPE – Arizona State's Magdalyn Ewen earned another prestigious honor as she was named as the 2018 CWSA Honda Award recipient for track and field, CWSA executive director Chris Voelz announced Thursday.
The recent ASU graduate with a degree in health and wellness was chosen by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools out of four finalists nominated for the award, including fellow Bowerman Award semifinalists Keturah Orji (Georgia), Lynna Irby (Georgia) and Karissa Schweizer (Missouri).
"I know first-hand how talented the women in track and field are, so it's an absolute honor to be chosen for this prestigious award," Ewen said.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 42 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA- sanctioned sports and signifies "the best of the best in collegiate athletics". With this honor, Ewen becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2018 Honda Cup which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on June 25 in downtown Los Angeles.
"I can't think of anyone more deserving than Maggie Ewen for this honor," director of track and field Greg Kraft said. "The way she performs in competition, in the classroom and in the community just really exemplifies what it means to be a Sun Devil."
SUN DEVIL HONDA SPORTS AWARD WINNERS
2017-18: Maggie Ewen, track and field
2016-17: Monica Vaughn, golf
2007-08: Jacquelyn Johnson, track and field
1998-99: Grace Park, golf
1997-98: Kellee Booth, golf
1994-95: Wendy Ward, golf
1993-95: Wendy Ward, golf
1982-83: Jeri Cameron, gymnastics
1976-77: Melissa Belote, swimming and diving
Honda Inspiration Award: Allyssa Johnson (softball, 1995)
Ewen's stellar senior season in Tempe included three NCAA titles, two collegiate records, five conference titles, Pac-12 and MPSF Athlete of the Meet honors and a second-straight National Women's Field Athlete of the Year honor.
She recently wrapped up her historic ASU career in dramatic fashion when she won the NCAA discus title on her final throw of the competition and her final throw in maroon and gold.
Two days prior to her discus gold, Ewen won the outdoor shot put title to complete the season sweep of the event as she had taken first place indoors back in March. Her two titles from last weekend made her the only woman in collegiate history with wins in the hammer throw (2017), discus and shot put. It was just the sixth time in championship history that a woman won both the shot and discus at the same NCAA Championship.
Her 20 points scored at the NCAA Championships were the joint-most by a woman in the competition and earned Ewen her second-straight high-point honor as last season she put up 21 in three events.
Ewen came into 2018 with the collegiate record in the women's hammer throw, but bested her old record three times in the same series at the 39th Sun Angel Classic in April. She would finish 2018 having put up five of the eight best hammer throw marks in NCAA history, including four of the top-five and the record of 74.53m/244-6 feet.
In the shot put, Ewen had an even more impressive season, winning both NCAA titles, becoming one of four women to ever top 19 meters indoors, and setting the collegiate record outdoors.
Her throw of 19.46m/63-10.25 feet at the Desert Heat Classic in April broke the 2-year-old record by five inches. Although she came into the season without a mark in the all-time top-10 list, Ewen recorded an astounding seven of the 10 farthest throws in collegiate history in 2018 alone, including her title-winning heave at the NCAA Championships that was the second-farthest in championship history.
With her second-straight sweep of the hammer throw, discus throw and shot put at the Pac-12 Championships, Ewen tied a Pac-12 record with seven career individual titles. She ended her MPSF career with five titles and her first sweep of the shot put and weight throw.
Ewen's name is at the top of the ASU record books in the indoor and outdoor shot put, hammer throw and weight throw, and she is second in the discus only to Leslie Deniz' mark that is third in NCAA history.
This is the second-straight year Ewen has been nominated for the Honda Sport Award and her first time receiving the honor. In her four years of competition at ASU, Ewen earned 11 first-team All-America honors, won 11 conference titles and four NCAA titles, and is a three-time honorable mention academic all-Pac-12 team member.
While her Sun Devil career came to a close last weekend, Ewen's season of competition continues next weekend at the U.S. Championships.
The recent ASU graduate with a degree in health and wellness was chosen by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools out of four finalists nominated for the award, including fellow Bowerman Award semifinalists Keturah Orji (Georgia), Lynna Irby (Georgia) and Karissa Schweizer (Missouri).
"I know first-hand how talented the women in track and field are, so it's an absolute honor to be chosen for this prestigious award," Ewen said.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 42 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA- sanctioned sports and signifies "the best of the best in collegiate athletics". With this honor, Ewen becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2018 Honda Cup which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on June 25 in downtown Los Angeles.
"I can't think of anyone more deserving than Maggie Ewen for this honor," director of track and field Greg Kraft said. "The way she performs in competition, in the classroom and in the community just really exemplifies what it means to be a Sun Devil."
SUN DEVIL HONDA SPORTS AWARD WINNERS
2017-18: Maggie Ewen, track and field
2016-17: Monica Vaughn, golf
2007-08: Jacquelyn Johnson, track and field
1998-99: Grace Park, golf
1997-98: Kellee Booth, golf
1994-95: Wendy Ward, golf
1993-95: Wendy Ward, golf
1982-83: Jeri Cameron, gymnastics
1976-77: Melissa Belote, swimming and diving
Honda Inspiration Award: Allyssa Johnson (softball, 1995)
Ewen's stellar senior season in Tempe included three NCAA titles, two collegiate records, five conference titles, Pac-12 and MPSF Athlete of the Meet honors and a second-straight National Women's Field Athlete of the Year honor.
She recently wrapped up her historic ASU career in dramatic fashion when she won the NCAA discus title on her final throw of the competition and her final throw in maroon and gold.
Two days prior to her discus gold, Ewen won the outdoor shot put title to complete the season sweep of the event as she had taken first place indoors back in March. Her two titles from last weekend made her the only woman in collegiate history with wins in the hammer throw (2017), discus and shot put. It was just the sixth time in championship history that a woman won both the shot and discus at the same NCAA Championship.
Her 20 points scored at the NCAA Championships were the joint-most by a woman in the competition and earned Ewen her second-straight high-point honor as last season she put up 21 in three events.
Ewen came into 2018 with the collegiate record in the women's hammer throw, but bested her old record three times in the same series at the 39th Sun Angel Classic in April. She would finish 2018 having put up five of the eight best hammer throw marks in NCAA history, including four of the top-five and the record of 74.53m/244-6 feet.
In the shot put, Ewen had an even more impressive season, winning both NCAA titles, becoming one of four women to ever top 19 meters indoors, and setting the collegiate record outdoors.
Her throw of 19.46m/63-10.25 feet at the Desert Heat Classic in April broke the 2-year-old record by five inches. Although she came into the season without a mark in the all-time top-10 list, Ewen recorded an astounding seven of the 10 farthest throws in collegiate history in 2018 alone, including her title-winning heave at the NCAA Championships that was the second-farthest in championship history.
With her second-straight sweep of the hammer throw, discus throw and shot put at the Pac-12 Championships, Ewen tied a Pac-12 record with seven career individual titles. She ended her MPSF career with five titles and her first sweep of the shot put and weight throw.
Ewen's name is at the top of the ASU record books in the indoor and outdoor shot put, hammer throw and weight throw, and she is second in the discus only to Leslie Deniz' mark that is third in NCAA history.
This is the second-straight year Ewen has been nominated for the Honda Sport Award and her first time receiving the honor. In her four years of competition at ASU, Ewen earned 11 first-team All-America honors, won 11 conference titles and four NCAA titles, and is a three-time honorable mention academic all-Pac-12 team member.
While her Sun Devil career came to a close last weekend, Ewen's season of competition continues next weekend at the U.S. Championships.