Laura Taylor nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year award
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Kansas track & field standout pole vaulter Laura Taylor was nominated by Kansas Athletics for 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year, announced by the NCAA on Thursday.
Taylor recently completed a successful collegiate career that included winning the 2018 Big 12 indoor pole vault title and earning two All-America honors (2017 Outdoor Second Team, 2018 Indoor First Team). Along with her athletic accolades, Taylor earned a number of academic awards including being a three-time USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honoree and earning spots on Academic All-Big 12 teams all four years.
The Tualatin, Oregon native was named the Big 12 Women’s Track & Field Athlete of the Week on January 31, 2018 after a first-place finish at the Jayhawk Classic in which she broke the Anschutz Pavilion facility record with a clearance of 3.34 meters (14-2.75 ft.).
Taylor was an honoree of the 2018 Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, which is the Big 12 Conference’s highest academic award, was named the Outstanding Woman in Sport at Kansas by the University’s Emily Taylor Center, and was also a recipient of the Big 12’s Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship.
This year marks the 28th year of the Woman of the Year award program, which was established in 1991. Among the record 581 nominees, 251 competed at the Division I level, 11 hail from the Big 12 Conference and 132 competed in track & field.
The NCAA Woman of the Year honors graduating female collegiate athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.
In the next step of the selection process, conferences will select up to two conference nominees each from the pool of school 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. 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 the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine.
The top 30 honorees will be recognized and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony on October 28 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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