CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The institutional nominees for the 2008 America East Woman of the Year award have been announced by the conference office. Albany’s Amanda Hall (tennis) and Amber Maisonet (softball), Binghamton’s Jacqueline Kane (volleyball), Boston University’s Sarah Hudak (field hockey), Hartford’s Alexandra Morley (softball), Maine’s Laura Harper (soccer), UMBC’s Dana Shepard (softball), New Hampshire’s Catherine Parker (cross country/track & field), Stony Brook’s Dana Hastie (cross country/track & field) and Vermont’s Carmen Lagala (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 earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and competed during the 2007-08 academic year, completed intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end of the 2008 spring season or received her undergraduate degree prior to the conclusion of the spring 2008 term and have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.500 (4.000 scale).
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.
The nominees will be narrowed down to three finalists on Wednesday, June 11 with the America East Woman of the Year being announced via release on the conference website on Wednesday, June 18.
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 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year.
For more information on the America East Woman of the Year, including past winners and nominees, log on to the conference’s official website www.AmericaEast.com.