ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Goalkeeper Sophie Jackson (Sr., West Yorkshire, England/The Crossley Heath Grammar School) of the No. 7-ranked University of Michigan women’s water polo team was named the winner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Elite 90 award in women’s water polo during the 2022 NCAA Championship Banquet prior to the start of competition on Friday, May 6, at Michigan’s Canham Natatorium.
A senior with a 3.986 grade point average in architecture, Jackson claims the NCAA’s highest academic honor in the sports of women’s water polo for the 2021-22 academic year.
She is the second Michigan women’s water polo athlete from water polo to earn this prestigious award, the first coming in 2016 when Danielle Johnson was named the Elite 90 award recipient and joins Michigan’s other female winners: Alice Hill (2021, Cross Country), Annika Hoffmann (2019, Rowing), Kinsey Vear (2016, Rowing) and Johnson (2016, Water Polo).
The Elite 90, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 90 championships.
Selection criteria for the award are:
- Student-athlete must be at least a sophomore academically and in his or her second year of competition at their current institution in any sport.
- Student-athlete is an active member on the roster, eligible for the championship, and a member of the designated squad size at the championship site in sports with squad size limitations. For team sports: If they are injured during the course of one of the NCAA tournament games, they must have played in more than 90 percent of the team’s regular season games. For individual/team sports, the student-athlete must be physically able to compete at the finals site.
- Credits completed shall only consist of those credits accumulated at the current institution and shall not include any transfer or AP credits.
- Only undergraduate GPA is applicable. If the student-athlete has graduated from your institution and is in graduate school, he or she is still eligible for the award but consideration will be based strictly on an undergraduate GPA, so just include undergrad GPA and credits on the form. Graduate students must be in good academic standing with the university.
- Each student-athlete is only eligible to win the award once per academic year, even if he or she participates in more than one sport.
A member of the 2019, 2021 and 2022 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion Wolverines, she competed in the Team Great Britain system and claimed a gold medal at the U21 (England) and U17 (Serbia) European Union (EU) Nations Tournament in 2017.
Jackson placed first at the 2016 U17 Exiles Cup in Malta and Ladies Escad Cup in Slovakia, while taking second place at the 2015 European Championship qualifier and U17 EU Nations Tournament in Slovakia.
The 2017 British Swimming Water Polo Emerging Athlete of the Year, she received the 2017 Water Polo Performance Athlete of the Year from Swim England and was selected as the Best Goalkeeper at the U19 National Age Group Championships in 2018.
Named Best Goalkeeper at the 2017 U21 EU Nations Cup, the 2015 U17 EU Nations Tournament and the BIWPA Turbo Cup in 2017, she was the U17 Inter-Regionals Most Valuable Goalkeeper in 2016 and the U15 Inter-Regionals Most Valuable Player in 2014.
