Ten former student-athletes have been selected as recipients of the NCAA Today's Top 10 award and will be honored at the NCAA Convention in January.
The award recognizes former student-athletes for their exceptional athletic and academic achievements, as well as their contributions to their campuses and communities.
The Today's Top 10 awardees were selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, composed of representatives from NCAA member schools and conferences, as well as nationally distinguished citizens, including past awardees.
The awardees will be celebrated Wednesday, Jan. 10, at the NCAA Convention Welcome and Awards Presentation in Phoenix.
Learn more about each of the Today's Top 10 awardees:
Kobe Brown
School: University of Missouri, Columbia
Division I
Conference: Southeastern Conference
Sport: Basketball
Major: General studies
Kobe Brown is a two-time All-SEC honoree, earning first-team honors during the 2022-23 season. The 2023 U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-District VI and National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 20 first-team honoree was a first-round NBA draft pick in 2023 as he was selected 30th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers. Brown was named the 2023 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-American second team. He was also a recipient of the 2023 University of Missouri Letterwinners Club Award and the Missouri Director of Athletics Leadership Award. A member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Brown participated in a pen pal initiative that allowed student-athletes to keep in touch with local youth. He has also volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club, the Food Bank of Central Missouri and the Ronald McDonald House. Brown made numerous visits to Children's Hospital in Columbia and to local elementary schools to interact with youth within the community.
Callie Dickinson
School: University of Georgia
Division I
Conference: Southeastern Conference
Sport: Swimming and diving
Major: Exercise and sports science
Callie Dickinson is a six-time College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America All-American, earning first-team honors for her fifth-place finish in the 4x200-yard freestyle relay at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. The three-time second-team All-SEC honoree earned silver in the 200-yard butterfly at the 2023 SEC championships, following bronze finishes in the 200 butterfly and 4x200 freestyle relay in 2022 and the 4x200 freestyle relay in 2021. Dickinson holds four top 10 times in program history in four events. She has represented the U.S. in international competition since 2017, including the 2023 World University Games. The five-time first-team CSCAA Scholar All-American earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District recognition in 2023 and 2022. Dickinson was the 2023 SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned a 2023 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. The summa cum laude graduate was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, and she served as president of Georgia's Blue Key Honor Society chapter. She was one of eight student finalists at the 2023 annual meeting of the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine for her abstract on the effects of strenuous exercise on muscle mitochondrial capacity. A member of her campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee from 2019 to 2023, she was also selected for Georgia's Student-Athlete Leadership Academy. Dickinson also mentored local youth and volunteered as a national Crisis Text Line counselor.
Aria Fischer
School: Stanford University
Division I
Conference: Pac-12 Conference
Sport: Water polo
Major: English
Aria Fischer is a three-time national champion, winning the NCAA Division I Women's Water Polo Championship with Stanford in 2019, 2022 and 2023. The 2023 Peter J. Cutino Award recipient for national player of the year and 2023 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches National Player of the Year earned ACWPC All-America honors four times, including three first-team selections. She also earned All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honors four times and was named the MPSF Tournament MVP in 2023. The 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America At-Large Team Member of the Year was also awarded the Tom Hansen Conference Medal and the 2023 Stanford Award of Excellence. Fischer is a two-time Olympic gold medalist for Team USA. At the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, she became the youngest female team sport athlete in U.S. Olympic history to win gold, and she scored 10 goals for her team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. She has won 14 additional gold medals representing the United States in international competition. Fischer has worked as a production intern at "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah" and was a production assistant with Stanford's film club. She also spent time as a literary agent intern with The Carr Agency and was a contributing writer for Stanford's student-run newspaper. Fischer has volunteered with the social media and creative teams at the nonprofit Alliance for Diversity and Equity in Water Polo.
Divonne Franklin
School: Pennsylvania Western University, California
Division II
Conference: Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
Sports: Indoor and outdoor track and field
Major: Biology, with a concentration in pre-medicine
Divonne Franklin was national champion in the 100 and 200 meters at the 2023 NCAA Division II Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She is an eight-time U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American, with five first-team honors. The 2022 and 2023 Indoor and Outdoor USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year is first in Division II history in the 100 meters regardless of conditions (11.09) and second in the 200 meters (22.65). She holds 15 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship titles and four PSAC records and is a four-time PSAC Track Athlete of the Year. Franklin holds seven school records and competed in the 2023 Indoor and Outdoor USA Track and Field Championships. Franklin earned first-team College Sports Communicators Academic All-America honors in 2023, following second-team recognition in 2022, and was a four-time USTFCCCA All-Academic honoree. She was voted the 2022-23 PSAC Pete Nevins Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the 2023 USTFCCCA Outdoor National Scholar Track Athlete of the Year. She researched causes and solutions for vaccine hesitancy with a 2021 Science Communication and Outreach Fellowship and presented her findings on campus. She also researched the exposure of red dye 40 on yeast cells and Drosophila melanogaster models and presented the findings during the university's Fall Creative Works and Research Event in 2021. Franklin volunteered in her campus bone marrow drives, at local high school cross country meets and during annual community cleanups.
Noah Gulden
School: Lipscomb University
Division I
Conference: Atlantic Sun Conference
Sport: Soccer
Major: Management
Noah Gulden was a United Soccer Coaches first-team All-American in 2022. The 2022 MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist was also a first-team all-region honoree during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Gulden set the Atlantic Sun Conference record for most games started, with 83, and ranks 11th all-time in the ASUN for most assists, with 27. The 2022-23 ASUN Male Student-Athlete of the Year was named ASUN Defensive Player of the Year twice and first-team all-conference five times. Finishing both his undergraduate and graduate studies with a 4.00 cumulative GPA, Gulden was named a United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American on the first team in 2022 and the second team in 2021. The four-time ASUN All-Academic team honoree was named the ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year three times. Gulden was also named to the 2022 ASUN Fall Winner for Life team for his demonstration of the ASUN core values both on and off the playing field. He has worked as a youth soccer coach and has interned with Cobra Puma Golf and the run/train footwear division of Puma. Gulden also has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter-Lawrence Elementary after-school program.
Sydney Packard
School: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Division III
Conference: New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference
Sport: Cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field
Major: Chemical engineering
Sydney Packard is a nine-time U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American, earning seven honors in the 800-meter event in both indoor and outdoor track and field. The 15-time all-region honoree won five regional titles and earned All-New England Men's and Women's Athletic Conference honors 11 times. A three-year team captain, Packard finished her career with six individual conference titles and two relay conference titles. The four-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-American also earned Academic All-District honors five times. Graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 2020, Packard is now pursuing a doctorate in chemical engineering and is expected to graduate in 2025. She is a graduate research assistant for the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Stewart Lab. Packard has served as the vice president of the Chemical Engineering Graduate Organization and as a member of the Graduate Research Organization for Women in STEM. She received the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship Circular Economy and Data Analytics Engineering Research for Sustainability Fellows Award in 2023 and was a semifinalist for the Department of Defense Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation Scholarship-for-Service in both 2022 and 2023.
Ashley Rogers
School: University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Division I
Conference: Southeastern Conference
Sport: Softball
Major: Kinesiology, with a concentration in pre-medicine
Ashley Rogers was named the 2023 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I National Pitcher of the Year and was named a 2023 NFCA, D1Softball.com and Softball America first-team All-American. The three-time NFCA All-Southeast Region first-team honoree was the 2023 statistical champion for lowest number of hits allowed per seven innings with 3.21. Rogers earned first-team All-Southeastern Conference honors and SEC All-Tournament honors three times each. The 2023 College Sports Communicators Softball Academic All-American of the Year and 2023 SEC Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year also received the 2023 Elite 90 Award for Division I softball. Rogers was named to CSC Academic All-America teams for three consecutive years and was Tennessee's female nominee for the SEC's H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The three-time Easton/National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete was also awarded the 2023 Volunteer of Distinction Award for Outstanding Scholar-Athlete. Rogers was a member of the TC Colorado team, which placed second in the 2022 Canada Cup and competed against national teams including the United States, the Netherlands and Australia. A Tennessee team captain and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee team representative, Rogers served on the Health and Wellness Subcommittee and the Office of Community Outreach Subcommittee. She also served on the Faculty Senate Athletics Committee, which focused on improvements for student-athletes at Tennessee. Rogers volunteered with Tennessee Special Olympics and worked as a softball camp counselor and private pitching instructor. She has also volunteered at events for Read Across America Day and the NCAA Civic Engagement Day.
Trinity Thomas
School: University of Florida
Division I
Conference: Southeastern Conference
Sport: Gymnastics
Major: Applied physiology and kinesiology, with a concentration in fitness wellness
Trinity Thomas is a three-time national champion, earning titles in the all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise at the 2022 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships. The 2023 NIL Summit National Female Athlete of the Year has earned eight All-America first-team honors at NCAA championships and 18 Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association Regular-Season All-America first-team honors. Thomas was awarded the 2023 and 2022 Honda Award for gymnastics and was named the 2023 and 2021 College Gym News National Gymnast of the Year. The three-time WCGA Region 5 Gymnast of the Year has won seven NCAA regional titles. In the last meet of her collegiate career, Thomas tied the NCAA record of 28 career perfect 10s with a vault in the team final of the 2023 national championships. She graduated with five career gym slams (10.0 in each of the four apparatuses) and is the only gymnast to complete more than two. The four-time All-Southeastern Conference honoree was named the 2023 SEC Female Athlete of the Year and won five regular-season conference team titles, as well as two conference championship meet titles with Florida. She was also named a five-time WCGA Scholastic All-American. Thomas was a member of the U.S. senior national team from 2016-20 and was the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Sportswoman of the Year. In July 2023, she announced her intention to return to elite competition to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games. Thomas has volunteered with Special Olympics and the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge. She has participated in various Florida initiatives, including reading to elementary school students and teaching exercises to students within the community. She served as president of the Black Student-Athlete Council from 2022-23 and as co-vice president from 2021-22. Thomas is currently pursuing her second master's degree at Florida.
Anika Washburn
School: Case Western Reserve University
Division III
Conference: University Athletic Association
Sport: Soccer
Major: Computer science, with a concentration in software engineering
Anika Washburn led her team to a second-place finish in the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship. She earned first-team United Soccer Coaches All-America honors in 2021, in addition to three first-team all-region selections during her career. Washburn made the all-tournament team during the 2022 tournament run, where the Spartans set a Division III record for goals scored in an NCAA championship tournament. She is a three-time All-University Athletic Association first-team honoree and was named the conference's Offensive Player of the Year twice. The team co-captain and Case Western Reserve's 2020 Glenn and Peggy Nicholls Female Athlete of the Year set multiple program records, including both career and single-season records in goals, assists, points, game-winning goals and penalty kicks made. Washburn is a four-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-American, earning first-team honors in 2020 and 2021. Case Western Reserve awarded her the 2022 Bill Sudeck Outstanding Student-Athlete Award, recognizing athletics, academics and campus engagement, and Washburn placed second in both the Entrepreneurship Education Consortium ideaLabs and the Case Western Reserve business pitch competitions. Washburn was a five-year member of her campus Girls Who Code group and helped create curriculum and sessions in her three years as co-president. She also served as developer team lead and vice president of her campus Google Developer Student Club, leading development of an application to connect local food suppliers and nonprofit organizations. She is the founder of Signature Signs Co., constructing and selling custom neon signs across campus.
Turner Washington
School: Arizona State University
Division I
Conference: Pac-12 Conference
Sport: Indoor and outdoor track and field
Major: Biology and ecology
Turner Washington is a five-time national champion, earning the outdoor discus title in 2023 and 2021, the indoor shot put title in 2022, and the indoor and outdoor shot put titles in 2021. The nine-time All-American broke the NCAA record in the shot put during the 2021 indoor track and field season, throwing 21.85 meters. Washington was named the 2023 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Outdoor Men's Field Athlete of the Year. He was also named to the watch list for the Bowerman, the premier award in collegiate track and field, in 2022 and was a finalist for the award in 2021. The USTFCCCA Men's Indoor and Outdoor Scholar Field Athlete of the Year in 2021 was named the 2023 Pac-12 Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was the 2023 Pac-12 Tom Hansen Medal winner. Washington was the first athlete across all three divisions and sports to be named a College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Team Member of the Year three times in a career. The 2021 Olympic trials qualifier also qualified for the World Athletics Championships in 2023 after taking silver in the discus at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. The two-year Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representative has volunteered as a developmental throws coach for high school students and worked as a corporate partnerships intern with the Arizona Coyotes.
