For the 30th consecutive year, the NCAA Honors Committee has selected student-athletes who have performed well on and off the fields and courts as winners of the NCAA's Today's Top VIII awards.

The group will be honored January 13 at the Honors Dinner during the NCAA Convention in Indianapolis.

The Today's Top VIII recognizes distinguished student-athletes from the preceding calendar year for athletics, academic achievement, character and leadership.

The 2002 class includes University of Georgia swimmer Kimberly A. Black; Emily Bloss, a basketball and outdoor track and field student-athlete from Emporia State University; Andre N. Davis, a football player and indoor and outdoor track and field student-athlete from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Stanford University swimmer Misty Hyman; Leah Juno, an indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country student-athlete from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point; volleyball player Nancy Metcalf from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Georgia Institute of Technology golfer Bryce W. Molder; and basketball player Ruth E. Riley from the University of Notre Dame.

Kimberly A. Black

University of Georgia

Swimming

2001 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Won the 800-meter freestyle at this year's World University Games, her fifth career gold medal in that annual competition.

A member of Georgia's NCAA championship teams in 2001 and 2000.

Six-time all-American during her career.

An NCAA Walter Byers Scholarship and an NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient.

Southeastern Conference's 2001 H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Two-time first-team Verizon Academic All-American.

Inaugural winner of the Georgia Athletic Association Community Service Award.

Won the Peach of an Athlete Award, given by the Atlanta Boy Scouts of America for volunteer work.

Emily Bloss

Emporia State University

Basketball/Outdoor Track and Field

2001 Daktronics Division II Basketball Player of the Year.

Led Emporia State to four Division II tournament appearances during her career, including a national runner-up finish in 1998 and a third-place finish in 1999.

First-team all-American as a senior.

Ranks second on her alma mater's career scoring list with 1,915 points and fourth in career rebounds with 823.

A 1998 all-American in track.

2001 Verizon Academic All-America Team Member of the Year in the college division.

Three-time academic all-conference choice and an eight-time member of the Emporia State Athletics Director's Honor Roll.

Served as a volunteer for Mother of Pre-Schoolers agency and was a volunteer for a nursing home.

Participated in basketball clinics and in Read Across America programs at various Emporia elementary schools.

Andre N. Davis

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Football/Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field

Ranked 17th nationally in punt-return average (12.49 yards per return) in 2001.

Helped the Hokies achieve the No. 1 ranking for scoring offense in Division I-A in1999, averaging 41.4 points per game.

Second-team All-Big East Conference as a return man in 2000 and led the Big East with 27.5 yards per catch in 1999.

Three-year letter-winner in track and field.

Set school records in both the 60 and 200 meters in the 1999 Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships.

One of eight National College Scholar-Athletes as recognized by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

First-team Verizon Academic All-American.

Inaugural winner of the Niskayuna Community Role Model Award in 2000.

Participates in hospital visits and Virginia Tech nights at elementary schools.

Misty Hyman

Stanford University

Swimming

Gold medalist in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2000 Olympics.

Set the Olympic record in that event and swam the second-fastest time in history.

Two-time winner of the Honda Broderick Award as the top female swimmer in the nation (2001 and 1998) and a 28-time all-American, the highest total possible in a four-year career.

Twelve-time NCAA individual champion, including two titles each in the 200-meter butterfly and the 100-meter butterfly.

Broke NCAA and U.S. Open records as a member of the 400-yard medley relay team at the 2001 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Named the NCAA swimmer of the year in 1997-98 after setting the NCAA record for the 100-yard butterfly.

Winner of the 2001 Pacific-10 Conference Medal.

2000-01 president of the Special Olympics at Stanford.

Served as a volunteer for Easter Seals Organization in Phoenix.

Leah Juno

University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point

Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field/Cross Country

Three-time NCAA champion.

2001 Wisconsin-Stevens Point Female Athlete of the Year.

Eight-time all-American (six times in track, twice in cross country).

Six-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion.

Led the Pointers to a ninth-place team finish in the 2000 Division III Women's Cross Country Championships.

2000 WIAC women's cross country student-athlete of the year.

Won the Kenneth W. Boykin Scholarship for being the school's outstanding student in mathematics.

Two-time Verizon Academic All-American.

Vice-president of the Wisconsin-Stevens Point Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Coordinated a student-athlete carnival in which student-athletes worked with children in their respective sports.

Nancy Metcalf

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Volleyball

Two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association first-team all-American.

Member of the U.S national team for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.

2001 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year.

Helped the Cornhuskers advance to the NCAA Division I semifinals and helped the U.S. place ninth in the World University Games in 1998.

Became the fourth-fastest player in NCAA history to record 1,000 career kills.

Eight-time Big 12 commissioner's academic honor roll member and a four-time highest Honors Academic Medallion winner.

Served as a volunteer for the "I've Got Heart Card Series," during which she wrote notes of encouragement to hospital patients statewide.

An American Red Cross volunteer who joined a team of student-athletes to collect donations for the Disaster Relief Fund this past fall.

Keynote speaker for Nebraska's "School is Cool" Jam, for which she prepared and presented motivational messages to 14,000 middle school youth in spring 2001.

Bryce W. Molder

Georgia Institute of Technology

Golf

The low-scoring amateur at the 2001 U.S. Open, tying for 30th at that event.

Two-time Walker Cup team member.

World Amateur medalist in 2000.

Finished his college career with a record-low career stroke average of 70.69 and was the unanimous selection for 2001 national player of the year.

The fourth golfer to be a four-time first-team all-American.

Won eight tournaments, posted 24 top-three finishes and 37 top-10 finishes in 50 career collegiate events.

First player in Atlantic Coast Conference history to win conference player of the year honors three times.

Won the ACC tournament in 2000.

Named the Verizon Academic All-America Team Member of the Year in the university division for the 2001 men's spring at-large team.

2001 Peach of an Athlete Role Model Award winner from the Atlanta Area Council of Boy Scouts of America.

Member of the Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board.

Ruth E. Riley

University of Notre Dame

Basketball

2001 Naismith Player of the Year.

Led the Fighting Irish to the 2001 NCAA championship, capping a collegiate career in which she led Notre Dame to three other tournament bids, including one other Sweet Sixteen appearance.

Named most outstanding player in both the Women's Final Four and the Midwest regional while making both all-tournament teams in 2001.

Two-time Associated Press first-team member.

Named 2001 player of the year by Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Women and Women's Basketball Journal.

Big East Conference Player of the Year in 2001.

Ranks third in school history in scoring and set the school single-season blocked shots record and field-goal percentage record.

NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient.

2001 Verizon Academic All-America Team Member of the Year in the university division.

United States Basketball Writers Association Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 1999-00 and the Big East Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2000-01.

Traveled to elementary schools to speak to students and was a Youth Fest speaker and participant in 2000. Traveled to elementary schools to speak to students and was a Youth Fest speaker and participant in 2000.