Florida Gators

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Collegiate Women Sports Award presented by Honda went to Missy Franklin Monday evening in a nationally televised how on CBS Sports Network.

The Collegiate Women Sports Award brings the 12 student-athlete who represent the top in NCAA-sanctioned sport to Los Angeles. The 12 are narrowed to three finalists. This year, the three finalists were: Lauren Haeger, Breanna Stewart and Franklin.

Two of the top athletes were Gators – Haeger and Kytra Hunter. Haeger is the second Gator to win the Honda Award for softball. Hunter is a two-time winner of the Honda Award for gymnastics, also receiving the 2012 honor. A Gator gymnast has now won the honor four times.

This is the 39^th year for this prestigious award. One Gator has twice been named the top collegiate female athlete of the year. Gator Great swimmer Tracy Caulkins shared the 1983-84 Broderick Cup (previous name of award) with Southern California's Cheryl Miller and also won as a freshman in 1981-82. A Gator has been named their sport's winner 18 times since 1978.

How the Gators got to L.A.:

After the conclusion of each of the 12 recognized sport seasons, the Honda Sport Award sends a ballot with four sport finalists to administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.

Both Haeger and Hunter finished their collegiate careers with spectacular senior seasons. Here's the stats that earned this Gator duo their sport's highest honor in 2015:

Haeger in 2015:

·         Only third in NCAA history to claim each of softball's highest honors in a single season – Honda Award, USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year and Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player

·         Led Florida to back-to-back national titles

·         Joins Babe Ruth as the only players in Division I softball, baseball or Major League Baseball history to reach the 70-70 plateau (career victories and career home runs)

·         SEC Pitcher of the Year

·         Earned NFCA All-America first-team honors for second time (also in 2013)

·         Holds the SEC record for career home runs (70) and the school record for career RBI (254)

·         In the circle in 2015, turned in 31-2 record after opening the season with 24 consecutive wins for best start in school history

·         1.23 ERA ranks fifth nationally

·         Led team in 2015 with 19 home runs and 71 RBI

Hunter in 2015:

·         Led Gators to a third-straight national championship title

·         2015 NCAA all-around co-champion, her second all-around title of career

·         Captured the 2015 NCAA floor exercise title for two NCAA individual titles - Florida's first NCAA floor winner since 1984

·         Florida's NCAA individual event titles career leader (four)

·         2015 SEC Gymnast of the Year

·         25-time All-American, including a school-record 15 in NCAA competition

·         Career season-high nine all-around wins led SEC in 2015

·         Led Florida in 2015 with 24 event titles overall

·         Shared SEC vault and floor titles to be one of five in SEC Championship history to claim at least one league event title each season of career. Seven SEC event wins is a Gator career record

·         Competed all-around in every meet as a senior and posted four of the nation's top 12 all-around totals of 2015, including No. 4 total of 39.75 twice

Honda Contributes to Each School:

American Honda Motor Co., Inc., sponsor of the program, celebrates each nominee by donating $5,000 to each Honda Sports Award recipient school and $1,000 to each nominee school.

Two other Gators were sport finalists in 2015 – Brooke Austin (tennis) and Shannon Gilroy (lacrosse).

Visit The Collegiate Women Sports Awards website for more information about this award.