Abby Steiner is the fourth UK female athlete to make the NCAA Today’s Top 10 in the last eight years.
Just when you think Abby Steiner could not possibly win another collegiate honor, the former outstanding sprinter from Kentucky adds another award to her amazing resume.
The former NCAA champion was named to the NCAA Today’s Top 10 award list. This honor is based on achievements as athletes, students and contributors and only 10 student-athletes are picked from all sports in NCAA Division I, Division II and Division III that have over 500,000 student-athletes.
Steiner was amazing at UK where she won the 200-meter indoor and outdoor national titles as a senior. She set an American record — and second fastest mark ever — in the indoor 200 in 22.09 seconds. She also led UK to a 4×400 relay victory by overcoming a 25-meter deficit to get UK into first place.
She also holds collegiate records for the outdoor 200 (21.80) and indoor 300 (35.80) and as part of the 4×400 relay (3:21.93).
Not bad for an athlete who came to Kentucky from Ohio intending to play soccer. However, after one season doing both soccer and track, she decided to stick to track — which obviously was the right decision.
Steiner had already won the 2022 Honda Sport Award for track and field and the 2022 Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association – with one national honor remaining to be announced, The Bowerman next week.
While Steiner is a 11-time first-team All-American, she also was amazing academically. She had a 3.802 grade-point average, graduated summa cum laude in the spring and hopes to eventually be a physical therapist. Steiner was both the SEC Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year and then won the 200 at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships before winning two relay gold medals at the World Athletics Championships.
Steiner’s honor continues a strong UK tradition for female athletes. Hurdler Kendra Harrison (2016), swimmer Danielle Galyer (2018) and swimmer Asia Seidt (2021) also were named to the NCAA Today’s Top 10. That means in the last eight years Kentucky has had more Top 10 winners than any other Division I school.
