Springfield, Mass. – July 12, 2018 – Amanda Palladino (Coatesville, Pa.) of Ursinus College and Amy Enright (Lake Elmo, Minn.) of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse have been announced as their instituational and conference nominees for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award. NCAA member colleges and universities have nominated 581 student-athletes, the most ever in the history of the program.
Now in its 28th year, 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.
Of the 581 nominees, 251 competed in NCAA Division I, 131 competed in Division II and 199 competed in Division III athletics.
The NCAA encourages member schools to honor its top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year Award. Then, conferences assess each nominee’s eligibility and select up to two conference nominees. All conference and independent/associate member nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee.
The selection committee will choose the top 10 honorees in each division. From among those 30 candidates, the selection committee will determine the top three in each division. Finally, the members of the Committee on Women’s Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year.
All school and conference honorees receive an NCAA certificate and will be recognized on ncaa.org. The top 10 honorees from Divisions I, II and III, including the nine overall finalists, will be honored, and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year winner announced, at a dinner October 28 at the Westin, Indianapolis.
Palladino, a recent graduate with a degree in Economics with a concentration in Finance, capped her phenomenal career with a third All-America certificate on the balance beam in 2018. The Bears’ co-captain, who finished 11th as a freshman and second as a sophomore, earned a 9.6750 – including a 9.75 from one judge – to just make the top-8 cut required for All-America status. The score was tied for the second-highest of the season for Palladino, who shared eighth place with Cortland’s Bailey Gildemeyer.
Palladino recently took part in the NCAA Career in Sports Forum, an educational program that brings together over 200 student-athletes across all divisions to learn and explore potential careers in sports, with a primary focus on college athletics.
A microbiology major with minors in chemistry and Spanish, Enright boasts a 3.98 grade point average. She was selected to the 2017-18 Google Cloud National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Academic All-America® At-Large First Team, as voted by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). It marked Enright’s third career Academic All-America® At-Large honor.
Enright earned 2018 NCGA All-America honors with a second-place finish on the uneven parallel bars. It was her fifth career NCGA All-America honor, including her fourth on the uneven parallel bars. Her score of 9.825 in this year’s championships is tied for second in school history. A three-year team captain, Enright is a two-time WIAC champion on the uneven parallel bars, posting first-place finishes in 2015 and 2016, and helped UW-La Crosse win the conference title in 2016.