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The Big West celebrates two conference nominees for 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year. The impressive duo both competed collegiately as two-sport athletes, and combine for a multitude of accolades including Big West Players of the Year in their respective sports and multiple All-American distinctions all while maintaining high academic standards and exhibiting service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers. The pair was selected from the impressive group of eight school nominees to represent the conference and advance to NCAA Woman of the Year national-level award consideration.

The Big West conference nominees for 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year are:

• Ciara Franke, UC San Diego water polo and swimming & diving
• Brooke Van Sickle, Hawai'i indoor and beach volleyball

The 577 school nominees across all three NCAA divisions were whittled down to 151 candidates for 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year with five more independent nominees set to join the pool on Aug. 4. There are 53 NCAA Division I women representing the conference nominees, and the women maintain an impressive 3.8 grade-point average. 

Conferences were able to select up to two nominees each from their pool of nominees, if at least one of the nominees is a woman of color or international student-athlete. The Woman of the Year selection committee will then choose 10 women from each division to make up the Top 30, to be announced in October. The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will determine the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year. For the first time in the award's history, the Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the Woman of the Year will be named at the NCAA Convention, taking place in January 2023 in San Antonio.

In its 32nd year, the NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2022.

Ciara Franke

UC San Diego women's water polo

Graduated from UCSD with a degree in human developmental 
sciences and minors in business & psychology

UCSD Outstanding Senior Scholar-Athlete (2022)

Two-sport student-athlete (women's water polo & swimming) 
and captain of the Tritons' women's water polo team

On the ACWPC All-American teams each of the last four seasons

2021 Big West Women's Water Polo Player of the Year

Franke finished her fifth year in 2022, leading the UC San Diego women's water polo to a fifth-place finish in The Big West and the Tritons' first-ever win in Big West Championship play. The captain's accolades span multiple divisions and conferences during her career with the Tritons. Franke is a three-time ACWPC Division I All-America Third Team honoree, an ACWPC Division II All-America First Team selection and has been recognized by The Big West and the WWPA academically and athletically each season. 
 
Most recently, Franke was named to the All-Big West First Team and earned Big West All-Academic designations from the 2022 season. In 2021, The Big West recognized Franke as the Big West Women's Water Polo Player of the Year in the inaugural NCAA Division I season for the Tritons. 
 
A hometown product of San Diego, Franke finished her time in the gold and blue ranked sixth in career goals (207), sixth in career shot percentage (.434), tied for eighth in career steals (163), and tied for eighth in single-season steals (64). Additionally, Franke is a twelve-time All-American sprinter on the Triton swim team, winning four PCSC championships in the 200 freestyle, and in the 200, 400, and 800 freestyle relays. 
 
Matching her athletic prowess, Franke is an outstanding student as well. In her first year of graduate school, the human developmental sciences major and business psychology minor was recently named to the Big West Spring All-Academic Team, finishing with a cumulative GPA of 3.64. Franke was awarded the Outstanding Senior Scholar-Athlete honor at the 2022 UC San Diego Triton Awards Night for her performance in the classroom.  
 
In the community, Franke guided high school-aged swimmers on the Wind N Sea Swim Team as a senior coach to achieve their goals at their current level while helping them reach the next level without burning out. As a Masters coach for the same program, Franke created various swim sets and workouts for diverse age groups and levels of swimmers, helping them reach their goals within the sport through challenging workouts.

Brooke Van Sickle

Hawai'i women's volleyball

Earned bachelor's degree in economics and is now pursuing
an MBA in marketing at Hawai'i

Two-sport student-athlete both indoors and on the sand; 
first Big West Player of the Year in both sports in the same academic year

2022 Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient

Competed in the NCAA Tournament in both disciplines in 2021-22, 
leading the Rainbow Wahine to a first-round victory indoors

Member of the USA Collegiate National Beach Volleyball Team