USTFCCCA News & Notes
Cross Country and Track & Field Athletes Up For NCAA Woman of the Year Award
Ten athletes who competed in cross country and/or track & field during the 2024-25 academic year are in the running to be named NCAA Woman of the Year.
The NCAA released its list of finalists on Wednesday.
Established in 1991, the award is rooted in Title IX and recognizes female student-athletes who have completed their undergraduate studies and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers.
Selected from a record-breaking 631 nominees submitted by member schools — a group that was then narrowed to 167 nominees at the conference level — the Top 30 honorees include 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions. Each honoree has demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. The honorees competed in a total of 14 NCAA championship sports and two NCAA Emerging Sports for Women. They have a variety of majors, including chemistry, mathematics, biology, education, engineering, psychology, nursing, computer science, journalism, sport management and more.
“These honorees represent the very best of what it means to be a student-athlete, and the character-building potential that is inherent in all athletic pursuits. They have distinguished themselves among the many thousands of collegiate athletes who find and surpass their limits every day on the journey to becoming their best selves, not just in sport, but in life,” said Marion Terenzio, chair of the Woman of the Year Selection Committee and president of SUNY Cobleskill. “I congratulate all of the remarkable women named to the Top 30 and applaud their demonstrated ability to create positive change in themselves and in the world around them.”
From these 30 finalists, the Woman of the Year Selection Committee will choose the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be announced this fall and recognized at the NCAA Convention in January.
Here are the nominees from cross country and track & field.
- Journey Amundson, St. Louis/Macalester
- Sivan Auerbach, Oklahoma State
- Nikki Boon, Emory/Coastal Carolina
- Avery Decker, Nebraska Wesleyan
- Hailey Gregg, Bethel
- Grace Hartman, NC State
- Meghan Hunter, BYU
- Anna Igims, Slippery Rock
- Kendall Kramer, Alaska Fairbanks
- Emily Moehringer, Catholic
History has been kind to cross country and track & field – 11 past winners of the award competed in those sports.
- Mary Beth Riley, Canisius (1991)
- Nnenna Lynch, Villanova (1993)
- Tanya Jones, Arizona (1994)
- Jamila Denby, UC Davis (1999)
- Tanisha Silas, UC Davis (2002)
- Annie Bersagel, Wake Forest (2006)
- Laura Barito, Stevens (2011)
- Elizabeth Phillips, Washington (Mo.) (2012)
- Ifeatu Okafor, Texas Tech (2013)
- Keturah Orji, Georgia (2017)
- Angela Mercurio, Nebraska (2018)