Cal swimmer Rachael Acker added to her long list of accomplishments Wednesday when she was named the Pac-12's 2015-16 Woman of the Year, becoming the first Golden Bear to receive the honor in the 11-year history of the award. As a result, Acker is the conference's candidate for NCAA Woman of the Year.
An accomplished student-athlete in the pool, in the classroom and in the community, Acker graduated this past May with her degree in French. She plans to attend medical school next year after completing a 10-month program at the University of Rennes in France as a Fulbright Scholar.
An All-American freestyler, Acker was a member of Cal's 800-yard free relay that captured the NCAA championship in 2014, and she helped the Bears to the national team title a year later. She was also the 2013 Pac-12 champion in the 200-yard freestyle. Acker, who competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month in Omaha, Neb., earned a pair of medals swimming for Team USA at the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia.
Acker compiled a 3.96 GPA, completed her Cal career as a three-time Academic All-American and was named the 2016 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's swimming & diving. At Cal, she received the school's Neufeld Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest GPA among Cal's graduating female student-athletes, the Anna Espenschade Award for exhibiting Golden Bear spirt, and an Oscar Geballe Postgraduate Scholarship.
A finalist for the University Medal as the top graduate at UC Berkeley, Acker received a certificate of distinction from the French department and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Premedical Honor Society.
Acker also spent countless hours serving as the co-founder of the Golden Bear sock drive and volunteering at the Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen, all to benefit the City of Berkeley's homeless community. Additionally, she was a crisis counselor providing free counseling through text messages with a suicide prevention line.
The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee will choose a Top 30 list of candidates – 10 from each NCAA division – and then three finalists from each division. The Committee on Women's Athletics then selects the winner, who will be announced at the annual ceremony Oct. 16 in Indianapolis.
