The NCAA will honor 10 exemplary college athletes – the 2016 Today's Top 10 Award winners – at the NCAA Convention in January.
The award recognizes former student-athletes for their successes on the field, in the classroom and in the community. Recipients completed their athletics eligibility during the 2014-15 academic year and will be recognized at the Honors Celebration during the Convention in San Antonio.
The NCAA Honors Committee, which selects the honorees, is comprised of representatives from member schools and conferences, as well as nationally distinguished former college athletes.
Before 2013, the award recognized eight student-athletes and was known as Today's Top VIII. The NCAA Honors Committee expanded the award to include 10 honorees to recognize the increased number of college athletes, sports and championship opportunities.
Ruben Gimenez
School: University of Bridgeport
Conference: Metropolitan Conference
Four-time individual NCAA champion Ruben Gimenez holds six University of Bridgeport swimming records, including three individual times and three relay times. A 20-time All-American, he won 24 Metropolitan Conference championships and led his team to four top-three finishes at the conference championships. His academic accolades were also plentiful. Gimenez earned back-to-back Division II Capital One Men's Academic All-America of the Year At-Large honors, and was a four-time College Swimming Coaches Association of America Academic All-American. Gimenez also led his team out of the pool, serving on the student-athlete advisory committee and volunteering with several local organizations. He interned at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., in 2014, and is now working with BlackRock, Inc., the largest asset manager in the world.
Ana Bogdanovski
School: Johns Hopkins University
Conference: Centennial
Ten-time NCAA champion Ana Bogdanovski was a force in the pool and in the classroom during her collegiate swimming career at Johns Hopkins University. In four years, she earned 22 All-America honors from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America, won 11 conference championships and set seven school records. The team captain also set an example of academic excellence. Bogdanovski received back-to-back Capital One Division III Academic All-America of the Year At-Large honors in 2014 and 2015. She conducted research on the effects of air pollution, participated in clinical observation shadowing doctors, and received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, which she is using to begin medical school at Rutgers University in the fall of 2016.
Kristin Day
School: Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Conference: Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
Kristin Day, the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year, won three individual national championships in diving events and set an NCAA diving record in points on the 3-meter while competing at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Her outstanding diving performances earned her eight All-America honors from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. In 2014, the CSCAA named her the Division II Diver of the Year. Day also competed internationally in the trampoline but elected to focus more on her studies. In 2014, Day won the Elite 89 Award, presented to the college athlete competing at an NCAA championship with the highest GPA. She also earned Capital One Division II Academic All-America of the Year honors in back-to-back years. The two-year captain served one year on her campus student-athlete advisory committee and as chief financial officer for her family's Ride for Research initiative, which has raised more than $60,000 for cancer research. She is now attending medical school at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.
