June 22, 2016-Emporia State track and field athlete Morgan Brant was one of 517 female student-athletes from all three NCAA Divisions nominated for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
Brant is the school record holder in the indoor high jump for Emporia State. She earned All-American honors as a junior at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She cleared 5-09.25 (1.76m) to set the school record at the 2015 MIAA Indoor Championships. She competed in two outdoor and one indoor national championship meet for the Hornets after transferring from Cowley CC.
The NCAA encourages each member school to honor its top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award. This pool of school honorees marks the largest in the 26-year history of the award. Of the nominees for the national award, 231 competed in Division I, 117 competed in Division II and 169 competed in Division III athletics. The nominees also represent 21 different women's sports, and 127 of the nominees competed in more than one sport in college.
Next, conferences assess their member school nominees and select up to two conference nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the top 30 honorees - 10 from each division. Brant was one of six nominees from MIAA member schools. She was joined by fellow track & field athlete Heavin Warner from Central Missouri, Missouri Western volleyball player Jessie Thorup, basketball players Kylie Gafford of Pittsburg State and Sarafina Handy from Missouri Western, while Lindenwood was represented by hockey player Nicole Hensley.
From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year.
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The top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 16 in Indianapolis.
Lady Hornet point guard Cassondra Boston was a top 30 finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year in 2010 while volleyball and basketball player Brittany Miller was the MIAA's nominee the next year. Prior to 2006 the honor was awarded by state rather than conference and did not differentiate between the three divisions. Emporia State had four Kansas NCAA State Woman of the Year honorees from 1999-2003.
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