Minnesota Diving: Sarah Bacon wins Honda Sport Award

In an already well decorated career that was highlighted by her third and fourth NCAA Championships this spring, Sarah Bacon can add one more major award to her haul Bacon was named the Honda Sport Award winner for swimming and diving earlier this week. Bacon becomes the first Gopher athletes to ever win a Honda Sport Award in any category!

The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 45 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports and signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”. With this honor, Bacon becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious Class of 2021 Honda Cup, which will be presented on a telecast on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 28 at 8 p.m. CT. Bacon beat out three other finalists for the award including Michigan’s Maggie MacNeil, Virginia’s Paige Madden and NC State’s Sophie Hansson.

Bacon is the first Gopher to ever win an individual sport award. She was only the second ever swimming and diving finalist from Minnesota along with NCAA Champion and Olympian Jillian Tyler in 2011. Bacon also is now the only diver to ever win the swimming and diving category in the Honda Sport Awards!

Bacon won both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard NCAA Championships in March. They were her third and fourth NCAA Championship after winning the 1-meter springboard in both 2018 and 2019. Bacon took off the 2020 season to try and prepare for the Olympics—which obviously never happened, but she will be a strong contender at the US Olympic diving trails to try and earn her spot to Tokyo this summer!

Congrats to Sarah on continuing to make Minnesota Golden Gopher history!