Past Garnet NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees  / Official NCAA Release
 
INDIANAPOLIS - Emma Morgan-Bennett '20 has been tabbed as a Top 9 Finalist for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, announced by the selection committee on Thursday.
 
For the second consecutive year and fourth all-time, a Garnet student-athlete has advanced as a finalist for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award. Morgan-Bennett joins former soccer standout Marin McCoy '19, two-time swimming All-American Supriya Davis '15 and two-sport All-American Kristen English '01 as a member of this illustrious group. In the last six years of the award process, the three finalist from Swarthmore ranks the most by any institution throughout all NCAA Division I, II, or III levels.
 
Morgan-Bennett, a New York City native, excelled both on the court and in the classroom. She was recently named a 2020 Marshall Scholar, one of just 46 students from the United States to receive the prestigious honor. Marshall Scholars are invited to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom, where Morgan-Bennett will pursue a master of arts degree in screen documentary from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2020 and then continue to pursue a doctorate in social policy and intervention from Oxford University.
 
She was a member of the 2019 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team, two-time Academic All-Centennial Team (2018 & 2019), and three-time CC Academic Honor Roll (2017, 2018, 2019). The middle blocker earned American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America (AVCA) Honorable Mention honors in 2018. She is a two-time AVCA All-Region pick (2018, 2019) and two-time All-Centennial Second Team selection (2018, 2019). She finished her career ranked second all-time in blocks (318) and assist blocks (238) and fourth all-time with 80 solo blocks.

In the community, Morgan-Bennett was also a leader on campus and the Swarthmore community. She founded Athletics for Diversity and Inclusion (ADI), a campus-wide coalition that centralizes conversations surrounding athletes' identities. This coalition hosts two representatives from every team on campus and organizes campus-wide events, educational programs, and community service throughout the year. With help from ADI, she was awarded Swarthmore's William J. Cooper Foundation Grant, which supports topical events featuring eminent guests in their fields of expertise. Morgan-Bennett helped spearhead an event titled "Beyond The Field: Activism, Athletics, and Empowerment in the Modern Political Era," a teach-in that occurred in February 2020 and featured former Eagles' Super Bowl champion, All-Pro, and anti-incarceration activist, Malcolm Jenkins. Through student-panels and a moderated conversation with Jenkins that drew over 600 students and community members, Swarthmore engaged in an examination of the intersections between political dissent and athletic capital. As the Co-founder and Executive Director of Eat at the Table Theatre Company (E.A.T.T.), she created a youth theater company for young actors of color to explore and celebrate race through repurposed and original theater pieces. Additional exploits of Morgan-Bennett include serving on Swarthmore President Valerie Smith's hiring committee for its Title IX coordinator, participating as a keynote panelist at the NCAA Convention on the topic of NCAA's Advocates of Change: Student-Athlete Activism and Expression in the 21st Century, and working as a summer research intern for the National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW). Morgan-Bennett is also the recipient of a McCabe Scholarship.

The nine finalists, three women from each NCAA division, were selected for their outstanding achievements in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.

Finalists were chosen from the Top 30 Woman of the Year honorees, made up of 10 honorees from each division and 14 sports, including two emerging sports. In 2020, schools nominated 605 graduating female student-athletes for this prestigious award.

The finalists and Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced during a virtual awards show Friday, Nov. 13. The show will be streamed on the NCAA Twitter account and ncaa.org/woty, and it will be streamed by ESPN.