INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA announced today the 10 finalists for the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year award, one of the most prestigious honors the NCAA bestows.

This award recognizes young women in intercollegiate athletics for their outstanding achievements in athletics, academics and community service.

This year’s finalists, who have an average grade-point average of 3.81 on a 4.0 scale, graduated or will graduate with degrees in majors such as art history, biology, chemistry, food science, kinesiology, math, pre-medicine and Spanish.

The 10 finalists for the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year award include five NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients, and six of the 10 are or were involved with the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC) on their campuses and in their conferences. SAAC is a committee made up of student-athlete leaders assembled to provide insight on the student-athlete experience. The SAAC also offers input on the rules, regulations and policies that affect student-athletes’ lives on NCAA member institution campuses and it is the “student voice” in the NCAA’s governance structure.

The finalists are volunteers who served as peer counselors, “adopted” a family at Christmas, volunteered for a food bank, were active in student government and participated in a missions trip to Peru.

Of the finalists, six are from Division I member institutions, one is from Division II and three are from Division III. They represent a variety of sports, including lacrosse, swimming, indoor and outdoor track, cross country, rowing and soccer, from schools in California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Virginia.

The 10 finalists are:

    * Kelly Albin, California, University of California, Davis, lacrosse. Hometown: Fort Bragg, California.
    * Julie Hardt, Georgia, University of Georgia, swimming. Hometown: Reno, Nevada.
    * Abbey Elsberry, Idaho, Boise State University, indoor and outdoor track. Hometown: Billings, Montana.
    * Megan Grunert, Indiana, University of Indianapolis, swimming. Hometown: Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
    * Anna Crary, Massachusetts, Smith College, rowing, Hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona.
    * Sherita Williams, Michigan, Michigan State University, indoor and outdoor track. Hometown: Tampa, Florida.
    * Kayla Heising, Ohio, College of Wooster, swimming. Hometown: Wauseon, Ohio.
    * Shana Robinson, Oklahoma, University of Tulsa, indoor and outdoor track. Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    * Imani Dorsey, Oregon, University of Portland, soccer. Hometown: Santa Monica, California.
    * Melissa Block, Virginia, Mary Washington College, lacrosse. Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland.

This is the 14th year the Woman of the Year award has been given.

The finalists were selected from 276 entries by a committee comprised of athletics administrators from NCAA member colleges and universities. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year from among the 10 finalists. The national winner will be announced at an awards dinner October 31, in Indianapolis.

Last year’s national winner was Ashley Rowatt, a swimming and diving standout from Kenyon College, a Division III school in Gambier, Ohio. She was the first student-athlete in Division III to win the award.

Other past winners include: 2002 – Tanisha Silas, track and field, University of California, Davis; 2001 – Kimberly A. Black, Olympic gold medal swimmer, University of Georgia; 2000 – Kristy Kowal, Olympic silver medal swimmer, University of Georgia; 1999 – Jamila Demby, track and field, University of California, Davis; 1998 – Peggy Boutilier, lacrosse and field hockey, University of Virginia; 1997 – the late Lisa Ann Coole, swimming, University of Georgia; 1996 – Billie Winsett Fletcher, volleyball, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; 1995 – Rebecca Lobo, basketball, University of Connecticut; 1994 – Tanya Hughes Jones, track and field, University of Arizona; 1993 – Nnenna Jean Lynch, cross country and track and field, Villanova University; 1992 – Catherine Byrne Maloney, swimming, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and 1991 – Mary Beth Riley-Metcalf, cross country, Canisius College.

-30-