Three Cyclones Earn Strength & Conditioning Honors

AMES, Iowa – Three Iowa State student-athletes have been named All-American Strength and Conditioning Athletes of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). The trio is Cyclone softball's Hannah Carter, All-Big 12 volleyball player Candelaria Herrera and ISU All-American men's golfer Tripp Kinney.

The award, presented annually by the NSCA, is nominated for by institution strength and conditioning coaches and recognizes student-athletes accomplishments in the weight room while maintaining academic performance. The Iowa State softball and men's golf team's strength coach is Jovon Shaw, while Tim Dombrowski is the strength coach for the Cyclone volleyball team.

Carter started 21 of 24 games for the Iowa State softball program during the 2020 campaign. A native of Altoona, Carter tallied 13 hits, eight runs and ranked third on the team by earning nine walks during the season. Carter was also named a 2019 CoSIDA/Google Cloud First Team Academic All-American, maintaining a 4.0 GPA as an accounting major.

Herrera had a strong season on the volleyball court, earning All-Big 12 First Team and AVCA All-Midwest Region Team honors. Herrera helped lead the Cyclones back to the NCAA Volleyball Championship with her team-best .314 hitting percentage with 2.22 kills per set. On defense, she recorded 101 total blocks on the season, her second-straight year with at least 100 blocks. In January, Herrera joined the Argentina National Team, helping Las Panteras qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Kinney, an Honorable Mention All-American in 2018-19, had a record setting season going in 2019-20. The Waukee native finished the 2019-20 season by breaking his own single-season school record for stroke average at 70.89. Kinney was the team leader in rounds below par (9), top-10 finishes (3) and birdies. He finished his season ranked No. 68 by Golfstat and No. 71 by Golfweek.