Her biggest honor yet? Iowa’s Caitlin Clark wins Honda Cup as top women’s college athlete

What has already been an incredible and unforgettable year for Iowa basketball superstar Caitlin Clark has reached yet another level.

Clark, of West Des Moines, was named the recipient of the Honda Cup Award, which is presented to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year, at a ceremony Monday night in Los Angeles.

This might be the biggest honor yet for the Iowa junior.

The Honda Cup selects one woman from each of 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports and names a winner annually at the Collegiate Women Sports Awards. Clark was the choice in basketball, which was little surprise considering she was the consensus national player of the year while setting historic statistical marks and leading Iowa to a national championship game appearance against LSU.

On Monday, she was named the winner in a vote of administrators from more than 1,000 NCAA-member schools.

The 11 other finalists were North Carolina’s Fiona Crawley (tennis), Virginia’s Kate Douglass (swimming and diving), Texas’ Logan Eggleston (volleyball), Alabama’s Montana Fouts (softball), North Carolina’s Erin Matson (field hockey), Florida’s Jasmine Moore (track and field), UCLA’s Lilly Reale (soccer), Northwestern’s Izzy Scane (lacrosse), Florida’s Trinity Thomas (gymnastics), North Carolina State’s Katelyn Tuohy (cross country) and Stanford’s Rose Zhang (golf).

“If you’re not watching women’s sports, whether it’s field hockey, whether it’s lacrosse, whether it’s gymnastics, all across the board, you’re missing out,” Clark said after receiving her award on the CBS Sports Network. “Now’s the time to tune in, because the sky’s the limit for women’s sports.”

In her junior season, Clark recorded 1,055 points (fourth most in Division I women’s history) and 327 assists (also fourth in D-I history) while canning 140 3-pointers (second in D-I history) and setting NCAA Tournament records with 191 points, 60 assists and 32 3-pointers. With 2,717 career points, she needs 811 points to surpass Washington’s Kelsey Plum (3,527) as the all-time D-I leader. Clark has the option of staying at Iowa one or two more years before transitioning to the WNBA.