INDIANAPOLIS – Former Cal State San Marcos women’s golf student-athlete Jaime Jacob was announced as a Top 30 honoree for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the Woman of the Year Selection Committee announced on Thursday.
Selected from a record 605 school nominees – a group that was then narrowed to 161 nominees by conference offices – the Top 30 honorees include 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions. All have demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. The honorees competed in 14 sports and studied a broad range of academic majors, including Nursing, Mechanical Engineering, Biochemistry, Criminal Justice, Kinesiology, Accounting and Advertising.
“The 30 honorees selected this year excelled in the classroom and in competition while also remaining committed to serving their peers and communities,” said Suzette McQueen, chair of the Woman of the Year Selection Committee and senior associate commissioner for external relations and strategic marketing/senior woman administrator at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. “These outstanding women represent the thousands of diverse and talented women competing in college sports each year, and we’re proud to recognize their achievements on and off the field.”
Jacob had a historic four-year career as a Cougar. She excelled in the classroom at CSUSM and earned her degree in global business management with an emphasis in marketing. Matriculating with an impressive 3.96 grade-point average, Jacob was twice named a CoSIDA Academic All-American and also earned distinction as the CCAA Championship Scholar on two occasions. The Encinitas native and mainstay on the College of Business Administration Dean’s List was also selected as the Cal State San Marcos Outstanding Senior for Global Business Management in her final year as a Cougar.
In the community, Jacob served as a member of the Cal State San Marcos Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which opened her eyes not only to the impact athletes have on their university but also on the surrounding community. The platform of SAAC allowed her the opportunity to organize and participate in various activities like toy and canned food drives and other local community service events.
On the course, Jacob won back-to-back CCAA team and individual titles with the Cougars, and in 2019, she earned NCAA Division II individual medalist honors to become the first CCAA woman to take home the women’s golf national title. She helped guide the Cal State San Marcos team not only to their first NCAA Championship appearance but also to runner-up status in match play after leading the event following the stroke-play rounds.
Although she was unable to defend her individual crown in the shortened 2020 season, Jacob earned consecutive WGCA All-American first-team honors and was picked to represent the United States in the 2020 Arnold Palmer Cup, which is expected to be contested in December. The three-time CCAA Golfer of the Year left Cal State San Marcos with program records of 13 tournament wins and a scoring average of 73.54 strokes per round, along with many other season and career benchmarks etched in the Cougars’ record books.
The selection committee will announce the nine finalists, including three women from each NCAA division, in mid-October. From those finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year. The Top 30 will be celebrated, and the Woman of the Year will be named this fall.
