All Sooners

Jocelyn Alo Wins ESPY as Top College Athlete

OU senior takes home the top collegiate award after a record-setting, championship season with the Sooner softball team.

John E. Hoover

Jocelyn Alo Wins ESPY as Top College Athlete
Jocelyn Alo Wins ESPY as Top College Athlete /

Oklahoma senior Jocelyn Alo's legend just got even bigger.

In the year she set the all-time NCAA home run record for softball (or baseball), the Sooners' slugger brought home an ESPY as the best female college athlete during Tuesday's ESPYs preview on ESPN.

Alo took home the award over fellow nominees Aliyah Boston (South Carolina basketball), Jaelin Howell (Florida State soccer) and Charlotte North (Boston College lacrosse).

Alo finished her college career as a two-time national champion, two-time USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and the NCAA career record holder for home runs, slugging percentage and total bases. The Hauula, HI, product was also a four-time NFCA All-American with three first-team accolades.

The two-time Big 12 Player of the Year broke the NCAA career record for home runs in 2022, finishing with an unprecedented 122 and led the Sooners to the program's sixth national title and second straight. She finishes first in NCAA Division I history for home runs, total bases (761) and slugging pct. (.987) and became the first player in history to hit 30 home runs and bat .500 in the same season. She was also the first player to record three seasons of 30-plus home runs, accomplishing the feat in 2018, 2021 and 2022.

She finished her super senior season with an NCAA-leading 34 home runs, a .515 batting average, 85 RBIs and 1.212 slugging percentage. Alo is OU's record holder holder in nine statistical categories.

Alo (Best Record-Breaking Performance) and the Sooners (Best Team) are up for two additional ESPYS during Wednesday night's 2022 ESPYS Awards live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The show can be seen live on ESPN at 7 p.m. as Alo and fellow super seniors and and seniors and are in Hollywood representing the program.

The ESPYS are awarded by a combination of online fan balloting and voting by ESPN executives, on-air personalities and sportswriters.

 

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

Home/Softball