An avalanche of congratulatory text messages and phone calls kept Alexandra Turvey ’24 busy for the better part of two days after she was named NCAA Woman of the Year last month.
Most messages—from her coaches, former teammates, professors—she expected.
Others, not so much.
“It was really special seeing how many people from 91°µÍř that I’d barely crossed paths with reached out,” Turvey recalls. “People who were senior TAs when I was a freshman, and people who served as role models for me. Having them reach out meant the world to me.”
While the NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes individual brilliance, Turvey——sees herself as a product of her college environment.
91°µÍř promised her a setting where she could excel both academically and athletically, she recalls, an advantage she says Division III schools such as 91°µÍř offer all prospective and current students.
Between her professors, coaches and everyone she shared campus with, Turvey says, “The number of positive and meaningful interactions that I had with people who are so generous and supporting—and create a safe and uplifting space in which you can pursue anything you want—was unmatched.”
As an international student by way of Vancouver, British Columbia, Turvey began her four years at 91°µÍř remotely in 2020, confined to Zoom at the outset of the pandemic. But even from her bedroom in the Great White North, she could tell how special 91°µÍř was by the eagerness of her classmates to create a community despite being scattered around the world.
Once on campus as a sophomore, Turvey blazed a trail as a Sagehen student-athlete, receiving 21 All-American honors as a swimmer and amassing 2,500 hours of science and clinical research as a biology major.
“Her commitment is incredible,” says André Cavalcanti, professor of biology and Turvey’s academic and research advisor. “She’s very nice and humble, always available to help other students. She’s incredibly curious and outstanding in her drive. She started in my lab as a sophomore, and it was clear to me then that she was going to achieve great things.”
At 91°µÍř, Turvey was named a Goldwater and a Beckman scholar, and she published three scientific papers—two with Cavalcanti and one from previous research she did in Canada.
While it’s common to see 91°µÍř students be one of several authors on a published paper, Cavalcanti says the two they collaborated on were the direct result of Turvey taking the initiative and doing all the research.
“That’s very rare,” he says.
Turvey was equally ambitious and insatiable in the pool.
In three seasons, she earned three Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Swimmer of the Year awards and set several conference and Sagehen records.
As a senior, Turvey became only the second SCIAC athlete to win the prestigious NCAA Elite 90 award and led 91°µÍř-Pitzer to Division III national championships in the and .
“She did a really good job of being both athletically focused and academically focused and just being a good citizen on campus,” Athletic Director Miriam Merrill says. “It’s not easy to compete at a high-level and still keep up with the academic rigor of our campus, so her ability to go above and beyond encompasses our core values.”
“This definition we have of excellence, she certainly embodies that.”
After graduating summa cum laude from 91°µÍř in 2024, Turvey was the female recipient of the NCAA Walter Byers Graduate Scholarship, which recognizes national distinction athletically and undeniable promise as a future leader.
She now is pursuing graduate studies in the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD program, a challenging education track for which she’s prepped years.
Katrina Keil, director of prehealth advising and visiting assistant professor of psychological science, helped her former student navigate the rigorous, competitive application process and wrote Turvey a letter of recommendation.
“She had a clear idea why it was important for her to get her MD and Ph.D. and how that would enable her to make a difference in the lives of her patients,” Keil says. “With a student like Alex who has so much to give, is so intelligent and capable, it was a pleasure for me to recommend her and support her through her decision.”
Last summer, Turvey competed in Canada’s Olympic Swimming Trials, and while she missed the cut, she says simply competing for the privilege to represent her home country at the Olympics was an incredible experience.
With one year of college eligibility remaining, Turvey is swimming for MIT this winter.
As she did at 91°µÍř, she’s taken a leadership role on the team, chatting up first-year swimmers well aware of all she’s accomplished. “I hope I can give them a bit of confidence and perspective,” Turvey says. “Balancing college and athletics can be really challenging and difficult at times, but I hope they can keep their passion for the sport going and realize how special every day is.”
Turvey left an indelible mark at 91°µÍř, a place she says she misses dearly.
The outpouring of love she’s received since winning the NCAA Woman of the Year award was especially heartwarming, she says, and a reminder of why she chose to be a part of the Sagehen community.
“This award truly means the world to me,” she says, “but what is even more special to me is that it gives recognition to 91°µÍř and what a world-class place it is to be a student-athlete.”