Lyons Named NCAA Woman of the Year Top 30 Honoree

NORMAN — University of Oklahoma softball senior Grace Lyons has been named a Top 30 honoree for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The NCAA announced the 30 national selections Thursday afternoon.

After a group of 577 school nominees was narrowed to 156 nominees at the conference level in July, Lyons is one of 30 honorees that includes 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions. The award honors NCAA female student-athletes that demonstrate excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.

Lyons is the only Big 12 conference Top 30 selection and the sole softball student-athlete on the list.

"It is such an honor to be named a Top 30 finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award," said Lyons. "Coach (Patty) Gasso challenges us to grow from girls to women in this program and this process includes so many aspects of our life, not just softball. Academics, leadership, community work, my faith and softball are all what make me a well-rounded woman."

In her four years in Norman, Lyons has excelled on and off the field for Oklahoma and been an exceptional representative of the softball program.

A 2022 NFCA First Team All-American and top-10 finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, Lyons had a career year at the plate for the Sooners in 2022. The Peoria, Ariz., product started 61 of OU's 62 games a season ago and hit a career single-season best 23 home runs that ranked eighth in the country. She batted .401 with a .864 slugging percentage and 70 RBIs, helping OU to its second consecutive national title and sixth in program history. Added to the USA Softball Women's National Team roster this summer, Lyons competed with the U.S. in the Japan All-Star Series in August.

In the classroom, Lyons earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-America first-team honors in 2022 and second-team recognition in 2021. The 2021 NFCA Scholar Athlete and three-time Academic All-Big 12 first-team selection received the 2021 Big 12 Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, the league's highest academic distinction.

On campus, Lyons is a four-year member and serves on the leadership team for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and is the founder and president of The Player's Conference, a faith-based conference for college athletes. She also served as the softball team liaison to the Oklahoma Athletics Captain's Table, meeting with campus and athletics administrators. Lyons and her classmates worked with the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to create an app to measure stress indicators as their senior capstone project.

The Woman of the Year Selection Committee will select three honorees from each NCAA division, for a total of nine finalists. From those finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year.

For the first time in the award's history, the NCAA Woman of the Year will be named and the Top 30 will be celebrated at the NCAA Convention, which will be held in January in San Antonio.

The NCAA Woman of the Year program is rooted in Title IX and has recognized graduating female college athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership since its inception in 1991.

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