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NCAA Selects Top 30 for Woman of the Year

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Contact(s)

Gail Dent
Associate Director of Public and Media Relations
317/917-6117
 


INDIANAPOLIS--- The top 30 honorees for the 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year award have been chosen by a selection committee of representatives from various NCAA schools and conferences.  This year a record 471 nominations were submitted for the award that will be presented later this fall.

The Woman of the Year Award, now in its 21st year, honors female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academic achievement, athletic excellence, community service and leadership.   The prestigious program also involves a community service initiative that gives honorees the opportunity to interact with each other and with young girls in the city of Indianapolis who look to them as role models. 

Sharon Beverly, NCAA Woman of the Year selection chair and director of athletics & physical education at Vassar College, describes the award as one of the highest and most prestigious honors presented to a female student-athlete each year.  

“This award catapults the recipient into the next phase of her life and paves the way for a successful future in any chosen profession,” Beverly said.  “When you consider the academic and athletic accomplishments of each of the candidates for this award and the ways they have given back to society, the Woman of the Year honorees are the top echelon of NCAA role models.” 

Every NCAA member institution is encouraged to honor its top graduating female student-athlete by submitting her name for consideration.  Each conference assesses the eligibility of its members’ nominees and selects at least one student-athlete to represent the conference.   To be eligible for the award, a female student-athlete must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end of the 2011 spring season, graduated no later than the end of the summer 2011 term and achieved a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.5.  

The NCAA recently honored 142 women representing NCAA athletic conferences and independent schools for their accomplishments.   The selection committee will now narrow the Top 30 to three finalists from each division to form the Top Nine, which will be announced in early September.   The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the national winner from the Top Nine honorees.   The 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced during the Woman of the Year dinner in Indianapolis on Oct. 16.   Last year’s NCAA Woman of the Year was Justine Schluntz, a 2010 Rhodes Scholar, swimmer and mechanical engineering major, from the University of Arizona.  

To view the list of honorees and the NCAA online story, click here.