IOWA CITY, Iowa — Clarissa Chun can add yet another title to her impressive resume: USA Today's Women of the Year Honoree for the state of Iowa.
The University of Iowa's women's wrestling head coach has already led the Hawkeyes to a National Duals title in their inaugural season. She also has 15 student-athletes competing in the NCWWC National Championships in Cedar Rapids, March 8-9 in Cedar Rapids.
Chun was named head coach of the school's first women's wrestling program back in 2021 and moved to the state in 2022.
"Our women are great. [It's great] helping them find their best selves and empowering them to trust that they're amazing people first, on and off the mat," Chun said.
The Hawaiian native is a two-time Olympian, a National Wrestling Hall of Fame Distinguished member and a 2018 Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
USA Today presents the award to 12 national honorees and one honoree per state.
This year's honoree cohort is described as "our neighbors and role models. They use their voices for others, many overcoming immense challenges, to make change happen. Simply put, they make us want to do better.”
"I'm one that always wants to elevate others and work together with others to bring out everyone's best self," Chun said. "As much honor I feel, I feel undeserving because I feel like there's other people that lift me up right back."
Chun says both on and off the wrestling mat, if she sees someone having a hard day, she always wants to do her best to lift them up and help them out.
Previous Iowa winners of this award include Daisa Taylor and Gina Zastrow-Hayes. Other collegiate head coaches that have received this honor include South Carolina's Dawn Staley and Stanford Women's Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer.
Chun joined The Current on News 8 to discuss the honor, as well as her team's upcoming National Championships. You can watch the full interview in the above video.
Tune into The Current from 4 to 5 p.m. on weekdays to catch even more live interviews impacting you, your family and your hometown as well as all of the biggest headlines of the day.
Watch more news, weather and sports on News 8's YouTube channel