CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Boston University field hockey standout Sarah Hudak has been named the 2008 America East Woman of the Year, league commissioner Patrick Nero announced today. The honor recognizes the conference’s senior female student-athlete who best exemplifies a commitment to service, leadership, athletics and academics during her collegiate career.
As the America East Woman of the Year, Hudak will be nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Stony Brook’s Dana Hastie, the America East runner-up, will also be eligible for the national award. The NCAA 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 NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics (CWA) will vote from among the top nine to determine the 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year.
“We are honored to announce our Woman of the Year,” Nero said. “Our honoree represents the epitome of a student-athlete who is a leader on the field, in the classroom and in the community. She is the very best America East has to offer.”
Hudak, who earned a Masters of Science degree in occupational therapy with a 3.64 GPA, was an NFHCA All-America selection this past season. The 2007 America East Defensive Player of the Year, Hudak led the Terriers to their third straight conference title and a victory over Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Championship. A two-time all-conference selection, Hudak received first-team honors in 2007 and was also named to the All-ECAC first team.
Off the field, Hudak was tabbed an Academic All-American by the NFHCA and was the America East Field Hockey Scholar-Athlete. She was named to the conference’s All-Academic squad in 2006 and 2007 and is a member of the America East Commissioner’s Honor Roll. In the community, Hudak volunteers for numerous causes, including the Parkinson’s Wellness Community Wellness group at Sargent College, autistic children in Boston’s Public School system and the rehabilitation department at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. She was also active in Boston University’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the University’s Student Occupational Therapy Association and was a student delegate at the America Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) annual conference this year.
Hastie, a multidisciplinary studies major with a 3.78 GPA, earned All-Northeast Region honors in cross country each of past two seasons and helped the Seawolves capture the 2007 team title. She placed third and sixth at the 2006 and 2005 meets, respectively, to earn all-conference recognition. In track & field, Hastie placed second in the 5,000-meter run at both the America East Indoor and Outdoor Championships to garner all-league honors. She became the first SBU track & field athlete to compete at the NCAA Championship and placed 15th in the 10,000-meter run at the meet in Des Moines, Iowa last week.
In addition to her athletic achievements, Hastie has been named to the USTFCCCA and America East All-Academic teams, has been on the Commissioner’s Honor Roll every semester and is a two-time recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Scholar-Athlete Award. Additionally, she served an executive board member for SAAC and was a student commencement speaker, the first Stony Brook student-athlete in school history to gain the honor. Hastie, who received the Society of Distinguished Student-Athlete Award, also served as President of Brothers and Sisters and Christ (BASIC) and has been active with Read Across America.
The three finalists, announced on June 11, were selected from a pool of the nine America East institutional nominations, which were announced on May 20.
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 CWA started receiving conference-designated nominees in lieu of the previous institution- and state-based nomination format.