Eric Olson scores big for AP with Caitlin Clark coverage

By Eric Olsen

Eric Olson’s season-long efforts covering Iowa’s star Caitlin Clark and her pursuit of the all-time NCAA scoring record produced exclusive access and big all-formats wins for AP.

Olson knew before the season that Clark would almost certainly set all-time records before March. He pushed Iowa for access to Clark early, which proved important as she became less accessible amid growing interest across the nation.

Olson obtained exclusive, all-formats access to Clark early on, leading to a widely used profile to kick off the season and another on her remarkable performances as a high school player. AP launched a countdown scoring tracker in January and was careful to put Clark’s performance in context beyond her NCAA accomplishment and produced several videos for social.