PRINCETON, N.J. – One of the most decorated fencers in collegiate history, Lauren Scruggs ’25 is one of two Ivy League student-athletes nominated for the illustrious NCAA Woman of the Year award. First awarded in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year is a holistic honor that recognizes and celebrates recent graduates that excelled in their academic, athletics, community service and leadership efforts across all three NCAA divisions.
Scruggs joins Yale women’s rowing student-athlete Mia Levy as the two nominees from the Ivy League. Last year saw Harvard track & field’s Maia Ramsden ’24 earn a nomination as Harvard field hockey’s Ellie Shahbo ’23 was a finalist for the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Over her four-year collegiate fencing career, Scruggs dominated the competition, highlighted by her NCAA women’s foil national championship during the 2022-23 season. A four-time All-American, Scruggs pushed the Crimson to its second NCAA National Championship during the 2023-24 campaign, the first since the 2005-06 campaign. Last season saw Scruggs play a major role in the Crimson’s march to an Ivy League Women’s Fencing Championship, the program’s first since the 2016 season.
Scruggs is also enjoying incredible success early on in her international career. In her first Olympic appearance with the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Scruggs shined, winning a silver medal in the women’s foil individual event and anchoring the United States to a gold medal in the women’s foil team event. Scruggs is the program’s first Olympic gold medalist, as the United States’ gold medal represents the nation’s first ever gold medal in a team fencing event. Earlier this month, Scruggs won another gold medal in a major international competition, winning gold in the women’s foil team event.
Later this year, the national Top 30 honorees and nine finalists will be announced. The 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the 2026 NCAA Convention in National Harbor, Maryland.
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