CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Twelve institutional nominees for the 2012 America East Woman of the Year award have been announced by the conference office. University at Albany’s Laurie Gonzalez (volleyball), Binghamton University’s Nandi Dozier-Lewis (track & field) and Viive Rebane (basketball), Boston University’s Angelina Cords (soccer), Fairfield University's Marit Westenberg (field hockey), University of Hartford’s Lindsay Mackowicki (volleyball) and Kenterra Richardson (track & field), University of Maine’s Kelly Newton (field hockey), UMBC’s Michelle Kurowski (basketball), University of New Hampshire’s Denise Beliveau (basketball), Stony Brook University’s Lucy Van Dalen (cross country/track & field) and University of Vermont’s Morgan Powers (cross country/track & field) have been chosen as the senior female student-athletes on their respective campuses that best exemplified a commitment to service, leadership, athletics and academics during their collegiate careers.
To be nominated, student-athletes must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end of the 2012 spring season or received her undergraduate degree prior to the conclusion of the summer 2012 term and have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.500 (4.000 scale).
The nominees
will be narrowed down to three finalists on Wednesday, May 30 via a
release on the conference web site with the America East Woman of the
Year being announced at the conference’s Annual Meeting in Annapolis, Md.
on Wednesday, June 13.
The America East Woman of the Year will then be forwarded to the NCAA
Woman of the Year selection committee. The selection committee will
select the top 10 winners in each NCAA division (I, II and III). From
among those 30 honorees, the selection committee will determine the top
three in each division. Finally, the members of the CWA will vote from
among the top nine to determine the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year.
In conjunction with the changes in the nomination process for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, the America East Woman of the Year award was established for the 2005-06 athletic season. Beginning in 2006, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics (CWA) started receiving conference-designated nominees in lieu of the previous institution- and state-based nomination format.
2012 Institutional Woman of the Year Nominees
Nominee School Sport Hometown
Laurie Gonzalez Albany volleyball Carolina, Puerto Rico
Nandi Dozier-Lewis Binghamton track & field Staten Island, N.Y.
Viive Rebane Binghamton basketball Tallinn, Estonia
Angelina Cords Boston U. soccer Leonardtown, Md.
Marit Westenberg Fairfield field hockey The Hague, Netherlands
Lindsay Mackowicki Hartford volleyball Norwich, Conn.
Kenterra Richardson Hartford track & field Temple Hills, Md.
Kelly Newton Maine field hockey Vancouver, British Columbia
Michelle Kurowski UMBC basketball Hicksville, N.Y.
Denise Beliveau New Hampshire basketball Framingham, Mass.
Lucy Van Dalen Stony Brook cross country/track & field Wanganui, New Zealand
Morgan Powers Vermont cross country/track & field Cincinnati, Ohio
Year-by-Year America East Woman of the Year Honorees
2011 Nikki Branchini, Albany (lacrosse)
2010 Emily Pallotta, Boston U. (soccer)
2009 Kristen Millar, Vermont (lacrosse)
2008 Sarah Hudak, Boston U. (field hockey)
2007 Marisa Ryan, Boston U. (cross country/track & field)
2006 Ashlee Reed, Albany (volleyball)