LA JOLLA, Calif. — The Big West announced Wednesday that UC San Diego's Sylvana Northrop is the conference's Women's Athlete of the Year for the 2025 cross country season. The annual award is voted on by the league's head coaches.
 
Northrop became the program's first Division I conference champion after winning the women's 6k at the Big West Cross Country Championships. That finish also secured her All-Big West honors for the second-straight year.
 
She is just the fourth Triton all-time to win a conference title and the first since Mimi Hodgins in 2005. Northrop and Hodgins are the only two Triton women with a conference championship.
 
The award is the first time a UC San Diego runner has received one of the annual Big West Cross Country Awards. The Tritons transitioned to Division I and joined The Big West in 2020, becoming postseason eligible in 2024.
 
Northrop was the Tritons' top finisher in every race this season. Her performances included winning UC Riverside's Highlander Invitational last month. She ended the season by placing 23rd at the NCAA West Regional Championships, a six-place improvement from last year.
 
A native of Cupertino, California, Northrop is a cognitive science major in Muir College. The redshirt senior has spent all five years at UC San Diego.
 
Northrop will be back in action for the Tritons during the upcoming 2026 track and field season. She is the school record holder in three track events.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 39 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.