LARAMIE, Wyo. (June 27, 2017) – Former volleyball student-athlete Laura Beach has been nominated for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year award. She is one of 543 honorees, the most ever in the history of the program, representing multiple sports across NCAA Divisions I, II and III honored by their athletics conferences and by independent schools.
"We are delighted to be able to put forth Laura Beach as our candidate for NCAA Women of the Year," Assistant Athletics Director/Senior Women's Administrator Joi Thomas said. "Laura's impact on her team, as well as her phenomenal academic career really exemplify what it means to be a student-athlete. Being able to highlight her accomplishments on a national scene is a pleasure for us."
Now in its 27th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female student-athletes for their achievements in academics, athletics, service and leadership. The honorees represent student-athletes from 21 different sports. By division, 229 honorees competed in Division I conferences, 117 competed in Division II, and 197 competed in Division III. Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its member schools and submits its conference nominee to the NCAA.
The NCAA Woman of the Year committee will select the top 10 honorees in each division from this pool to be recognized. These top 30 honorees will be announced in early September. The selection committee will then choose and announce the top nine finalists (three from each division) at the end of September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from amongst those nine finalists to determine the 2017 Woman of the Year.
The top 30 honorees will be honored and the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on October 22.
From Lakewood, Colo., Beach is a four-time Academic All-Mountain West Conference selection in addition to being a two-time Scholar-Athlete honoree. She graduated with a degree in kinesiology and health promotion in May. This past fall, she was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team and followed that with being named a CoSIDA All-American Third Team member. Beach was also awarded the 2016 Mike English Scholarship, which is given annually to the senior with the highest cumulative grade-point average and received AVCA All-Pacific Region honorable mention honors.
A four-year letterwinner for the Cowgirls, she became just the fourth Cowgirl in program history to earn All-MW honors at least three times. She finished her career ranked first all-time in hitting percentage (.372), fifth with 438 total blocks and 12th with 982 kills.
