Posted: Jul 07, 2020
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference today announced the seven finalists for the 2020 SCAC Woman of the Year award. The award recognizes the conference’s senior female student-athlete who has best distinguished herself throughout her collegiate career in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence and service and leadership. Past Winners
Member schools were permitted to submit two nominations if at least one of the nominees was a woman of color or international student-athlete.
This year’s finalists include: Ann Savage of Austin College, Kyra Montes of Centenary College, Riley Wadehra of Colorado College, Hannah Ortiz of Schreiner University, Mary Cardone of Southwestern University, DeAnna Hernandez of Texas Lutheran University and Abby Holland of Trinity University.
To be nominated, student-athletes must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end of the 2020 spring season, received her undergraduate degree prior to the conclusion of the summer 2020 term and had a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.500 (4.000 scale).
Scroll below to read a quick bio on each of the seven finalists:
Ann Savage, Austin College
Women's Basketball
- Graduated as a Mathematics major with a 3.96 GPA
- Four-Time SCAC Academic Honor Roll Honoree (2017-20)
- Two-Time SCAC Women's Basketball Elite 19 Award Winner (2019, 2020)
- Google Cloud First Team Academic All-District (2020)
- Austin College JC Kidd Medal (2019)
- Three-Time Second Team All-SCAC (2018, 2019, 2020); Third Team All-SCAC (2017)
- NCAA Leader Assist to Turnover Ratio (2019)
- SCAC Regular Season Champion (2019)
- SCAC Tournament Champion (2020)
- Two-time Team Captain (2018-19; 2019-20)
- One-Time SCAC Player-of-the-Week
- Brittany Simpson Award for Dedicated Athlete (2018, 2019, 2020)
- Pat E Hooks Basketball Team MVP (2020)
- SCAC Character & Community Honoree (2018)
- Austin College Service Station Tutoring (2016-2020)
- Global Outreach Fellowship (2018)
- Toys for Tots Basketball Clinic Volunteer (2016-19)
- Alpha Phi Omega Member (2017-18)
Kyra Montes, Centenary College
Women's Soccer
- Graduated as a Biology major with a 3.40 GPA
- SCAC Academic Honor Roll (2018)
- Centenary College Dean’s List (2016-19)
- Three-time First Team All-SCAC (2017, 2018, 2019)
- United Soccer Coaches (USC) First Team All-Region (2019)
- United Soccer Coaches (USC) National Player-of-the-Week (2018)
- Jamaica Mission Trip (2017)
- JV Girls Soccer Head Coach (2018-20)
- Centenary College YoungLife Volunteer (2018-20)
- Holy Angels Teaching Volunteer (2018)
- Metrocrest Services Volunteer (2019)
Riley Wadehra, Colorado College
Women's Swimming & Diving
- Graduated as an Environmental Science major with a 3.94 GPA
- Four-Time SCAC Academic Honor Roll Honoree (2017-20)
- Colorado College Dean’s List (2016-20)
- Google Cloud First Team Academic All-District (2019)
- Four-Time CSCAA Scholar All-America Honorable Mention Team (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
- Colorado College Outstanding Senior Academic Award - Environmental Studies (2020)
- SCAC 1-Meter Diving Champion (2019)
- Two-Time All-SCAC - 1-meter board (2018, 2019)
- Two-Time All-SCAC - 3-meter board (2018, 2019)
- SCAC Team Runner-up (2017-2019); SCAC Team Third Place (2020)
- Two-time Team Captain (2018-19; 2019-20)
- Eight-Time SCAC Diver-of-the-Week (2017-20)
- CC Swimming & Diving Jerry Lear Coaches' Choice Award (2017)
- Colorado College Laura Golden Award Recipient (2020)
- SCAC All-Sportsmanship Team (2019, 2020)
- Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) - Team Representative (2017-20)
- Quantitative Reasoning Center Peer Tutor (2018-20)
- Authorship on paper published in 'Geophysical Research Letters' (Feb. 2020)
- Presented at Ecological Society of America Conference (2018)
- Women in STEM Club (2016-18)
- Colorado College Swap Space Manager (2018-20)
- Clean Up the Creek Volunteer (2016-17)
- Special Olympics Swimming Clinic Volunteer (2019-20)
Hannah Ortiz, Schreiner University
Softball
- Graduated as a Chemistry major with a 3.87 GPA
- Three-Time SCAC Academic Honor Roll Honoree (2018-20)
- SCAC Softball Elite 19 Award Winner (2019)
- Second Team All-SCAC (2018); Honorable Mention All-SCAC (2019)
- SCAC Tournament Fourth-Place Finish (2018)
- Schreiner University Female Athlete-of-the-Year (2020)
- Croc Center Youth Softball Coach (2019)
- Blue Santa Volunteer (2019)
- VA Hospital Volunteer (2020)
- Rise Against Hunger Volunteer (2020)
- STEM Zone Trunk or Treat Volunteer (2020)
Mary Cardone, Southwestern University
Women's Soccer & Women's Tennis
- Graduated as a Business Administration major with a 3.89 GPA
- Eight-Time SCAC Academic Honor Roll Honoree (2016-20)
- Two-Time SCAC Womens Soccer Elite 19 Award Winner (2018, 2019)
- Two-Time SCAC Women's Tennis Elite 19 Award Winner (2019, 2020)
- Southwestern University Dean’s List (Seven Semesters)
- Four-Time Southwestern University Director of Athletics Academic Excellence Award
- Two-Time Dr. Carla Lowry/Southwestern Female Athlete-of-the-Year (2019, 2020)
- Four-Time Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Scholar Athlete (2017-20)
- Two-Time United Soccer Coaches (USC) First Team Scholar All-Region (2018-19)
- CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large Team (2020)
- Three-Time All-SCAC First Team Women's Soccer (2016, 2018-19); All-SCAC Second Team Women's Soccer (2017)
- Two-Time United Soccer Coaches (USC) Second Team All-Region (2018-19)
- Four-Time SCAC Women's Soccer All-Tournament Team (2016-19)
- SCAC Tournament Defensive MVP (2019)
- SCAC Women's Soccer Newcomer-of-the-Year (2016)
- Three-Time All-SCAC First Team Women's Tennis (2017-19)
- SCAC Team Women's Soccer Tournament Champion (2019)
- SCAC Women's Tennis Newcomer-of-the-Year (2017)
- Two-Time SCAC Women's Tennis All-Tournament Team (2017-19)
- Three-Time NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament qualifier (2017-19)
- Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American (2019)
- Ranked as high as #22 nationally in Women's Tennis
- SCAC Women's Soccer All-Sportsmanship Team (2019)
- Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) - Team Representative (2017-20); President (2019-20)
- Southwestern University Honor Code Society Member (2018-20)
- Catholic Students' Association Member (2018-20)
- Community Engaged Learning Program Volunteer (2018)
- San Antonio Food Bank Volunteer (2019)
DeAnna Hernandez, Texas Lutheran University
Softball
- Graduated as a Biochemistry major with a 4.00 GPA
- Four-Time SCAC Academic Honor Roll Honoree (2017-20)
- Two-Time TLU Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2019, 2020)
- TLU President’s List (Eight Semesters)
- SCAC Softball Elite 19 Award Winner (2020)
- NCAA Division III Softball Elite 90 Award Winner
- Texas Lutheran Chemistry Grant Award (2018)
- First-Team All-SCAC Softball (2019)
- SCAC Team Regular Season and Tournament Softball Champions (2017-2019)
- NCAA Division III Softball Team National Champion (2019)
- TLU Black & Gold President's Council - Secretary (2019-20)
- TLU Campus Activity Board (2018-19)
- Peer Mentor (2017-18)
- Pre-Health Professions Club - Secretary (2017-18); President (2018-19)
- Research Assistant - Organic Chemistry (2017)
- Living Water International - Mission Trip (2017)
Abby Holland, Trinity University
Women’s Basketball
- Graduated as a Communications major with a 3.82 GPA
- Four-Time SCAC Academic Honor Roll Honoree (2017-20)
- Trinity University Dean’s List (Four Semesters)
- NCAA Jim McKay Scholarship Recipient (2020)
- NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Recipient (2020)
- Outstanding Senior - Communications Department (2019-20)
- Robert O. Blanchard Department of Communication Award for Academic Excellence (2020)
- Three-Time First Team All-SCAC Women's Basketball (2018-20); Third Team All-SCAC Women's Basketball (2017)
- SCAC Women's Basketball Player-of-the-Year (2019-20)
- Two-Time SCAC Women's Basketball All-Tournament Team (2018, 2019)
- Eight-Time SCAC Women’s Basketball Player-of-the-Week (2017-20)
- D3hoops.com Third Team All-America (2019-20)
- Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Honorable Mention All-America (2019-20)
- D3hoops.com First Team All-Region (2019-20); D3hoops.com Second Team All-Region (2018-19)
- Four-Time SCAC Women's Basketball Regular Season Team Champion (2017-20)
- Two-Time SCAC Women's Basketball Tournament Team Champion (2017-18)
- Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) - Team Representative (2018-20)
- Trinity University YoungLife Volunteer (2016-20)
- Trinity University Spurs Sorority Member (2016-20)
- STRAPS Sports Volunteer (2016-19)
- Basketball Camp Volunteer (2019)
- NCAA Final Four Social Media Intern (2017)
