ANNAPOLIS, Md. - On Wednesday afternoon the College Sports Information Directors of America announced the Google Cloud Academic All-America Hall of Fame Class of 2019. The United States Naval Academy Class of 1999 graduate and four-year member of the Navy women's soccer team, Nicole Aunapu Mann was one of four distinguished former NCAA student-athletes to receive this esteemed honor. The two-time Academic All-American is joined in the class by Arizona State's Willie Bloomquist (baseball), MIT's Louise Jandura (field hockey, basketball and softball) and Notre Dame's Greg Meredith (ice hockey).
The Academic All-America Hall of Fame was established by CoSIDA in 1988 and recognizes former Academic All-Americans who received a college degree at least 10 years ago, have achieved lifetime success in their professional careers and are committed to philanthropic causes.
Mann starred on the soccer field at the United States Naval Academy from 1995-1998, building Navy into a perennial power with the first four winning seasons in a streak that would last 21 years.
Mann, who started 74 of her 75 appearances while contributing one goal and four assists as a defender, helped guide the Mids to their first postseason in 1996 and, as a senior, captained Navy through an undefeated Patriot League campaign for the program's first conference title in 1998.
One of the most decorated women's soccer players in Patriot League history, Mann garnered First Team All-Patriot League recognition and United Soccer Coaches All-Region honors all four years and was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons. In addition, she was named to the Patriot League All-Decade Women's Soccer Team in 2000 and the Patriot League Women's Soccer 25th Anniversary Team in 2015.
Mann's many athletic accomplishments were accompanied by an array of academic awards, as well. She twice received CoSIDA Academic All-American honors and Patriot League Women's Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year distinction (1997 and 1998). Additionally following her senior season in 1998, Mann earned recognition from the United Soccer Coaches organization as a Scholar All-American, by the NCAA as Woman of the Year in the state of Maryland and from the Patriot League as their Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. The Naval Academy also bestowed Mann, a Trident Scholar, with the Vice Admiral Lawrence Sword for Women.
Following her graduation with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1999, Mann, a California native, earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2001. Upon completing graduate school, Mann attended The Basic School (Marine Corps officer training in Quantico, Virginia) and after flight training, was awarded her Naval Aviator wings in 2002. She was the Honor Graduate in her US Naval Test Pilot School class. In her career to date, Mann has flown over 2,500 flight hours in 25 types of aircraft, has 200-plus carrier landings, and has flown 47 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. For her action, she has received two Air Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals. Mann was recipient of the NASA 2015 Stephen D. Thorne Safety Award.
In 2013, Mann was selected as one of the eight members of NASA Astronaut Group 21. At the time of her selection as an astronaut candidate, she was Joint Mission Planning System Expeditionary Integrated Product Team Lead. After finishing her initial training, she worked on the development of NASA's new Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System and the Exploration Ground Systems.
In August 2018, Mann was assigned to the first test flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, and she and her fellow crew members are working closely with Boeing to develop their new spacecraft systems. These systems will provide roundtrip crew transportation services to the International Space Station and, along with SpaceX's CrewDragon, return the ability to launch humans into space from United States soil.
For all of her efforts on the soccer field, in the classroom, in the line of military service and with the space program, the United Soccer Coaches organization recognized Mann as Jerry Yeagley Award for Exceptional Personal Achievement honoree in December of 2017. The award is presented annually to a former college men's or women's soccer player who has demonstrated exceptional personal achievement and extraordinary accomplishment that transcends normal expectation and who was an example and inspiration to his/her teammates and university.
Mann and her three fellow inductees will join the prestigious 150-member Google Cloud Academic All-America Hall of Fame this June. They will be inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame at CoSIDA's annual convention in Orlando, Florida on Monday, June 10.
Previous Hall of Fame honorees, include the likes of Danny Ainge, Tiki Barber, Drew Brees, Anne Donovan, Dick Enberg, Julie Foudy, Rebecca Lobo, Peyton Manning, Heather O'Reilly, John Stockton, John Wooden and Steve Young. Mann will be the eighth soccer player inducted into the hall since its creation.