Ashley Puga had a big year in 2009. The product from Northwest Nazarene University won the indoor 800 meter title with a time of 2:07.63 before turning around and capturing the outdoor championship with a mark of 2:07.24.
Shortly after picking up her pair of national titles, the native of Meridian, Idaho, was named the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II National Outdoor Female Track Athlete of the Year. She was also named the 2009 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year for the second-straight season, and she was a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year.
She did things in other years, too. Over the course of her career, Puga picked up nine All-America honors to go along with her seven GNAC titles. She set seven conference titles as well as rewriting the Northwest Nazarene record books with 12 school records.
Puga also took care of business in the classroom, graduating summa cum laude after majoring in accounting and business administration. She was a three-time All-GNAC Academic Team member, as well as the 2008-09 GNAC Female Scholar Athlete of the Year.