For the 31st consecutive year, the NCAA Honors Committee has selected student-athletes who have performed admirably on and off the fields and courts as winners of the NCAA's Today's Top VIII.

The group will be honored January 12 during the Honors Dinner at the 97th annual NCAA Convention in Anaheim, California.

The 2003 Top VIII includes Ann Marie Brooks, who competed in track and field for the University of Missouri, Columbia; Michelle Cottrell, who played basketball for Northern Kentucky University; Kari A. Groshek, who played basketball for the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point; Ryan Johnson, a football student-athlete from Montana State University-Bozeman; Stacey A. Nuveman, who played softball for the University of California, Los Angeles; Andreé N. Pickens, who competed in gymnastics at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Jonathan Stinchcomb, a University of Georgia football player; and Santa Clara University women's soccer player Aly Wagner.

Ann Marie Brooks

University of Missouri, Columbia

Track and Field

NCAA Woman of the Year finalist.

Member of the champion indoor distance medley relay team in 2001.

All-American in cross country.

Won this year's 5,000 meters at the North American-Central American-Caribbean Championships.

NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient.

NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship runner-up.

Two-time Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American.

Served on the Boone County Council on Aging for two years.

Member of a student-faculty discussion group that each month brought together honors college students to discuss current events.

Assisted handicapped children and adults in safely riding horses at the Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Stables.

Performed volunteer work at the University of Missouri Children's Hospital.

Michelle Cottrell

Northern Kentucky University

Basketball

Two-time Division II Bulletin National Player of the Year.

State NCAA Woman of the Year winner.

Led Northern Kentucky to the 2000 Division II championship.

Three-time Kodak all-American.

Named the most outstanding player in the 2000 Elite Eight.

Named Great Lakes Valley Conference player of the year three times.

NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient.

Received the GLVC-Richard F. Scharf Paragon award, which is given each year to one female student in that conference.

Winner of the 2002 GLVC women's basketball scholar-athlete of the year award.

Verizon/CoSIDA District IV all-academic team.

One of two student-athletes appointed to Northern Kentucky's Athletic Council.

Participated in the Walk for Women's Athletic Scholarships for four years.

Nominated for her alma mater's "University Service Award" upon graduation in December 2002.

Kari A. Groshek

University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point

Basketball

Named first-team all-America by D3hoops.com.

Finalist for Josten's Division III player of the year.

Led her team to the national championship her senior year, during which the Pointers became the eighth squad in Division III women's history to win 30 games in a season.

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year.

Named her alma mater's female athlete of the year as a senior.

Finished third on her school's all-time scoring list for a single season, and third among the school's career scoring leaders.

Set school records for career games played and single-game scoring.

Recipient of her alma mater's distinguished achievement award for a senior biology major.

Second-team Verizon Academic All-American.

Special Olympics and Habitat for Humanity volunteer.

Ryan Johnson

Montana State University-Bozeman

Football

Finalist for the Walter Payton Trophy, the award given to the top player in Division I-AA football.

Named third-team all-America by Football Gazette and second-team all-Big Sky Conference.

Holds school career rushing record with 3,518 yards and single-season record with 1,537.

Rushed for more than 100 yards 12 times as a senior, including four games in which he gained 200 yards, also a school record.

Named Verizon Academic All-American of the Year for Division I-A and I-AA football.

Named the Roland Renne award winner as the outstanding senior at Montana State.

Three-time all-Big Sky academic selection.

President of his school's chapters of Athletes in Action and Campus Crusade for Christ.

Volunteered for the Bozeman Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Stacey A. Nuveman

University of California, Los Angeles

Softball

Member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic gold medal team.

Finalist for the 1999 Sullivan Award.

2002 American Softball Association/USA player of the year.

Holds the NCAA career home run record (90), and also set the career slugging percentage record as a senior.

Career batting average of .466 is third best in NCAA history.

Led the country with a .529 batting average as a senior.

Three-time Honda Award finalist.

Nominated for an ESPY Award as 2002's best female collegiate athlete.

Worked as a volunteer for "I'm Going to College," escorting inner-city children at campus sporting events and encouraging them to think about higher education.

A participant in UCLA's pen pal program, she also served as a coach/teacher at softball camps and clinics around the country, representing UCLA and the U.S. national team.

Andreé N. Pickens

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

Gymnastics

State NCAA Woman of the Year winner.

Honda Award winner for gymnastics.

Won the NCAA championship in the uneven bars as a senior and the balance beam in 1999.

Was the first freshman to earn five all-America honors in one season.

Earned five first-team all-America honors as a senior, making her the first to do so in two different seasons.

Finished her career with 14 all-America honors despite not being able to compete in the 2001 championships due to injury.

2002 Southeastern Conference female athlete of the year; selected as the SEC Gymnast of the Year for three consecutive years.

Academic all-conference three times.

Appointed to her institution's president's university standing committee of academics and athletics.

Female recipient of the 2002 SEC community-service award.

One of five women to receive honorable mention in Glamour Magazine's "2001-02 Top-Ten College Women."

Jonathan Stinchcomb

University of Georgia

Football

Semifinalist for the 2002 Lombardi Award as one of the country's top linemen.

First-team all-Southeastern Conference performer.

Named a first-team freshman all-American by The Sporting News and Football News in 1999.

2001 first-team Verizon Academic All-American.

Recipient of a National Football Foundation postgraduate scholarship.

Four-year recipient of a HOPE Scholarship from the state of Georgia.

Male student-athlete representative to his university's athletics board of directors.

Recognized by the Georgia chapter of the Boy Scouts of America as a "Peach of an Athlete" in 2002.

Named to the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team.

Volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, the American Heart Association and St. Mary's Hospital.

Worked with the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, Special Olympics and the Boys and Girls Club.

Aly Wagner

Santa Clara University

Soccer

Starter for the U.S. women's soccer national team.

Won national player of the year honors from three different organizations as a senior and was named the Bay Area's female athlete of the year.

Led Santa Clara to the 2001 Division I championship and was named the outstanding offensive player for the Women's College Cup.

Kicked game-winning goals in three postseason games in 2001, including the championship game.

Named all-academic by both the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the West Coast Conference.

* Community activities included serving as a HomeSafe volunteer, and helping with Santa Clara youth clinics and the Alzheimer's Activity Center.