INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Duke University 2019 graduate
Virginia Elena Carta received more accolades from the NCAA Tuesday as she was one of 10 student-athletes recognized as the 2020 Top 10 Award winners. She will be recognized at the NCAA Convention in January.
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The award recognizes former student-athletes for their successes on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The recipients — who completed their athletics eligibility during the 2018-19 academic year — will be recognized at the Honors Celebration on Jan. 22 during the NCAA Convention in Anaheim, California.
The NCAA Honors Committee, which selects the honorees, is composed of representatives from member schools and conferences, as well as nationally distinguished citizens including past awardees.
Earning the 2016 NCAA Women's Golf Individual title in her freshman campaign, the four-time All-ACC selection capped her Blue Devil legacy with the 2019 NCAA Team championship in May, helping lead the Blue Devils to their seventh NCAA title in school history. She is one of only four Duke golfers to win both an NCAA team and individual title. She finished her Duke career with 43 rounds of even or under par, including 15 rounds in the 60s.
Carta's success outside of the course are perhaps even more impressive. She spearheaded the creation of the Birdies for Babies program at Duke in her junior season to help raise money for the Duke Children's Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units. After the initial two years of the program, it raised $36,822.75 to help the children.
Before 2013, the award recognized eight student-athletes and was known as Today's Top VIII. The NCAA Honors Committee expanded the award to include 10 honorees to recognize the growing number of college athletes, sports and championship opportunities.
Earlier this fall, Carta was one of nine finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year. Â
Other top 10 award selections include – Jimmy Bendeck (Baylor), Iman Blow (Columbia-Barnard), Kaitlin Hatch (West Chester of Penn.), Kirby Hora (Augustana), Cassandra Laios (Case Western Reserve), Hannah Orbach-Mandel (Kenyon), Kristin Quah (Vanderbilt), Anton Stephenson (Nebraska) and Ginny Thrasher (West Virginia).
A native of Udine, Italy, Carta was a Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-America and Honorable Mention All-America by both Golfweek and the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA). A four-time women's golf All-ACC Academic Team member and 2019 ACC Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Carta also earned four WGCA All-America Scholar accolades over her Duke career.
#GoDuke
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