Pomona-Pitzer swimmer Alexandra Turvey was selected as the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year.
Turvey is a 21-time All-American and biology major. She was announced as the winner last week at the NCAA Convention in Nashville.
“This is truly such an honor. I stand here tonight not just as a single person but as someone who represents thousands of other female student-athletes across the country. Today was such an inspiration, getting to spend time and hang out with 30 inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, powerful women,” Turvey said in her acceptance speech. “When I really think about my NCAA experience, I’m struck by how it can bridge so many divides and really create community in the most unexpected places.”
The Woman of the Year award was created in 1991 to recognize graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves in athletics, academics, leadership and community service.
In her time as a student-athlete, Turvey amassed over 2,500 hours of basic science and clinical research and published three articles in scientific journals, including one as first author, according to the NCAA.
Turvey, a Vancouver native, volunteered as a clinical research student at the British Columbia Children’s Hospital and as a Red Cross blood donor ambassador. She also mentored younger swimmers and organized a fundraiser to prevent child drowning in Thailand.
She originally was on the Pre-Med track but after her grandmother lost her battle to cancer, and her mother was diagnosed with cancer, Turvey is looking to take her talents to cancer research.
“From my research experiences in a children’s hospital and a genomics lab, I want to tackle seemingly unsolvable problems,” she said. “I bring to this career a very strong academic background and four years of research experience, but my greatest contribution is my grit. This comes from intercollegiate athletics. From competitive swimming and teamwork, I know how to work tirelessly to improve and how to motivate and deeply care for others.”
In the pool that meant care for her teammates, which was done as a motivational leader. She put the idea in her teammates heads that they could win a relay at the NCAA Championships, and they won two.
“All year thinking that we could accomplish something that hadn’t been done in over 40 years was at times sort of hard to wrap our minds around,” Turvey said. “Having that close-knit team together, we really saw that we could set ambitious goals and really believe in ourselves and believe in each other, and we could achieve what we didn’t think was actually possible at the start of the year.”
Turvey graduated summa cum laude from Pomona and earned national awards, including the Goldwater Scholarship, NCAA Elite 90 award, College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Team Member of the Year in her sport, Beckman Scholars Program award and an NCAA Walter Byers Graduate Scholarship.
In July, she began an eight-year graduate program at Harvard Medical School and MIT that combines two challenging graduate degrees: a medical degree and a Doctor of Philosophy, according to the NCAA. She plans to become a physician scientist. In her first year of her degree, she is using her remaining one year of eligibility to complete her swimming and diving career at MIT.
“It’s a huge commitment, but I think because of intercollegiate athletics I’ve learned to not shy away from these huge commitments. So ultimately it worked out, and I’m really thankful that I was able to,” Turvey said.
