INDIANAPOLIS - Missouri State swimmer Lily DeSpain, who concluded her record-setting career with the Bears last spring, has been selected as one of the Top 30 honorees for the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year award.

"Missouri State is honored to have a student-athlete selected for this prestigious honor," said Missouri State Director of Athletics Patrick Ransdell. "Lily represents everything that is great about intercollegiate athletics and the student-athlete experience. On behalf of our entire department, I want to extend a sincere congratulations to her for being named to the NCAA Woman of the Year Top 30."

She is one of 10 student-athletes from the NCAA's Division I ranks to advance to the Top 30 recognition. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will then select the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year from among nine finalists, three from each NCAA division. All of the Top 30 honorees will be celebrated at the 2024 Woman of the Year event at the NCAA Convention in January in Nashville, Tennessee.

DeSpain was selected out of 627 student-athletes nominated by their institutions.

"I am incredibly humbled to have been named one of the Top 30 honorees for the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year award," DeSpain said. "This accolade means so much to me, but more importantly, it reflects the incredible support system that has surrounded me throughout my time at Missouri State University."

Across her two years at Missouri State, DeSpain set Missouri Valley Conference records in the 400-yard individual medley (4:14.92), 400-yard freestyle relay (3:18.87) and 800-yard freestyle relay (7:12.19). She won seven MVC Championship gold medals, five of which came in last season's title meet, to lead the Bears to their seventh and eighth consecutive MVC crowns.

DeSpain made the All-MVC first team and MVC Scholar-Athlete Team in both seasons at Missouri State. Likewise, she was named the 2024 MVC Swimming & Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year. 

"Lily is just an incredible ambassador for our sport, for Missouri State University and for our program," head coach Dave Collins said. "Watching how she has handled herself throughout her journey as a college student-athlete has been so rewarding as a coach. The pride she has for Missouri State and the legacy she has left will be felt for many years to come. Lily is an inspiration to all of us and I am so proud to have been her coach."

She was the tenth Missouri State swimmer to win the MVC Good Neighbor Award in the winter of 2023-24. In June, DeSpain became the seventh swimmer to win the MSU Outstanding Female Athlete Award, presented annually to the university's top female athletic performer. Most recently, she was one of four winners of the MVC Postgraduate Scholarship Award given to recipients accepted for postgraduate studies at an institution of higher learning.

The native of Springdale, Ark., is currently enrolled in the University of Arkansas Medical System School of Medicine. She is also active as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. Before transferring to Missouri State, DeSpain swam for the U.S. Naval Academy from 2020-22. She graduated from Missouri State with a degree in Cell & Molecular Biology in the spring of 2024.

DeSpain is the first Missouri State student-athlete to be an NCAA Women of the Year Top 30 Finalist since former MSU volleyball player Lily Johnson was nominated in 2018 after a hall-of-fame career with the Bears. Johnson also graduated with a degree in cell & molecular biology. Former Lady Bears basketball great Jackie Stiles was also an NCAA Woman of the Year Top 30 Finalist in 2001.

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. It is one of the highest awards given by the NCAA. The Woman of the Year award is unique in its recognition of student-athletes who are not only successful on the field and in the classroom, but also contribute to their communities and campuses. 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 2024.

To learn more about the NCAA Woman of the Year Award program and previous winners, visit ncaa.org/woty.