PT Alumna Asia Seidt Named to UK Athletics Hall of Fame

By Ryan Clark
CHS Communications Director

Asia Seidt, UKPT Class of 2023, has been elected into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame.

A member of the women's Swimming & Diving team from 2017-2020, Seidt earned countless honors after excelling in the classroom and the pool. In 2020, she was named UK's first-ever NCAA Woman of the Year — chosen from more than 600 applicants covering all female athletes in all sports in all three NCAA divisions — for her remarkable combination of athletic and academic achievements. 

In the pool, Seidt qualified for the NCAA Championships all four years at UK and totaled 21 All-America honors, including eight first-team honors. She also qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials and swam for the United States for two years at the World University Games.

She was a 15-time SEC medalist, including four gold medals, five silver and six bronze, and Seidt still holds UK records in five events.

She won the 2019 Arthur Ashe Female Sports Scholar of the Year and was named to the official Academic All-America team for two years. She also won the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year for all sports and currently works as a physical therapist.

Meanwhile, Seidt maintained a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology before attending UK’s physical therapy graduate program in the College of Health Sciences.

“To say you’re from Kentucky and to represent the state of Kentucky, and you’re from there, I think it means more to me than anything,” Seidt said after graduating. “I love this state, and I love this school, but the people here have made it so beyond special, and it’s truly been such an honor to have UK on my cap for the past four years."

The UK Athletics Hall of Fame was started in 2005 to recognize and honor persons whose participation and achievements enriched and strengthened the University’s athletics program. A committee consisting of Hall of Famers, media members, campus representatives and current coaches and administrators elects new inductees each year.

Also inducted were: Paul Calhoun (football), Tim Duckworth (men’s track and field), Leah Edmond (volleyball), Patty Jo Hedges-Ward (women’s basketball) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (men’s basketball).

The new Hall of Famers will be inducted during Hall of Fame Weekend on September 25-26.