Dao Named NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee

NORMAN — University of Oklahoma graduate Kaylee Dao was named one of two Big 12 Conference nominees for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, the conference announced Tuesday.

The NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. A total of 161 female student-athletes have been named candidates by conferences and independent schools. Dao joins Texas swimming and diving student-athlete Alison Gibson as the Big 12's two nominees.

Dao, the Big 12 Fall Scholar-Athlete of the Year, had a senior year for the record books in 2019. The Tulsa, Okla., native started all 20 games for the Sooners and recorded 13 goals, one assist and 27 points en route to All-Big 12 First Team honors. Additionally, Dao registered five game-winning goals and scored the golden goal in all four of Oklahoma's overtime victories.

Dao finished her career as the third all-time goal scorer in OU history with 29 career goals and ranked second on OU's career list with 11 game-winning goals.

The current professional soccer player for Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi in Finland compiled an extensive list of career accolades while at Oklahoma. She was named a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American and was a four-time Academic All-Big 12 selection. She was named a Senior CLASS Award first-team honoree after being named the first Senior CLASS Award Finalist in program history. Dao is a four-time All-Big 12 selection and two-time All-Region honoree.

The Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will now choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division — from the conference-level nominees. The Top 30 honorees will be announced in September. From there, the selection committee will narrow the pool to three finalists from each division.

The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2020 Woman of the Year from the nine finalists.

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