LOGAN, Utah – Utah State's
Lexi Aragon and
Kelsey Kaufusi have been selected as institutional nominees for the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Since 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year program has recognized graduating female student-athletes for their academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership.
Aragon was a member of Utah State's gymnastics program from 2020-24. As a graduate senior, she earned second team all-Mountain West honors and was twice named the MW Beam Specialist of the Week. Aragon anchored the beam lineup to help the Aggies to a second-place finish at the inaugural MW Championships.
Aragon ranks ninth all-time at USU in the beam with a career-high score of 9.925, set this past season against Southern Utah, and ranks 15th all-time in school history with a single-season beam average of 9.782.
The native of Salt Lake City, Utah, is a four-time Scholastic All-American as named by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association. She was a three-time Academic All-Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference honoree and was named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team in each of the past two years.
The daughter of Andrew and Traci Aragon, Lexi graduated from Utah State in the spring of 2024 with a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering.
Kaufusi, a defender on Utah State's soccer team, started all 76 matches of her Aggie career, playing 7,028 of a possible 7,030 minutes. She was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 after helping USU to its first-ever league tournament title, while also earning a spot on the all-MW first team and earning United Soccer Coaches All-Pacific Region second team honors.
The native of Syracuse, Utah, anchored an Aggie defense which posted a program record 10 shutouts in 2023. USU allowed just six combined goals to 13 Mountain West opponents during the year, and held 19 of 23 opponents to a single goal or less.
Following her collegiate career, Kaufusi was selected in the second round of the NWSL draft to the Portland Thorns, becoming the first Aggie to ever be drafted to the league.
Kaufusi has earned academic all-Mountain West and MW Scholar-Athlete honors every year of her career at Utah State. This past season, she was named to the CSC Academic All-District Team.
The daughter of Thomas and Allison Steed, Kelsey earned her undergraduate degree in human development and family studies with an emphasis in child development in May of 2024.
For more on Utah State Athletics, fans can follow the Aggies on Twitter (@usuathletics) or on Facebook by searching Utah State Athletics.
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