Emerick selected as one of nine finalists for 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Former Trinity University all-America diver Hayley Emerick, the 2011 SCAC Woman of the Year, has been selected as one of nine finalists for the 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.

The 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year will be chosen from among the nine finalists by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics and announced at the 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year awards dinner to be held Sunday, October 16, at the Indiana Convention Center 500 Ballroom in Indianapolis. At the awards dinner, the NCAA will celebrate the accomplishments of the nine finalists and the other Top 30 honorees. 

Emerick is the second SCAC Woman of the Year honoree chosen as one of the nine finalists and the first since former Trinity student-athlete Christyn Schumann was a top nine finalist in 2006.

“Hayley Emerick is an NCAA champion who has also excelled academically and in campus and community activities,” said Bob King, Director of Athletics at Trinity. “She is one of the most accomplished student-athletes I have been involved with in my 23 years as a Division III athletic director. In addition to her success, Hayley is a true joy to be around as a human being.”

Emerick, a Business Administration (Marketing) major from Portland, Texas, won a national championship on the three-meter board at the 2010 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships. Last March, Emerick finished as runner-up on both the one-meter and three-meter boards at the 2011 NCAA Championships, making her Trinity’s first four-time all-American in the sport of diving.

Emerick, who helped Trinity’s swimming and diving team to a conference championship each of her four years in San Antonio, was a seven-time SCAC champion in the one-meter and three-meter events, and was named SCAC Women’s Diver-of-the-Year every year.

This past April, Emerick, a three-time NCAA academic all-America selection, became the 32nd Trinity University student-athlete to earn a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.

The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics (CWA) manages the nomination process and selections. In the past five years, 663 student-athletes were nominated by their conference or independent institutions, representing multiple ethnicities and all NCAA-sponsored sports within Divisions I, II and III. In 2011 alone, 471 student-athletes were nominated by their institutions. From 1998 through 2005, an average of 410 female student-athletes per year were nominated for the award, and since the program’s inception in 1991, 2200 women have been recognized as state or conference honorees.