Harker nominated for 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year
06/25/2015 | 12:00:00 | Softball
INDIANAPOLIS - Saluki softball outfielder Kalyn Harker has been nominated by the Missouri Valley Conference for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year. Harker and UNI basketball's Brooke Brown are the MVC nominees for the award.
Harker earned numerous conference and national awards after a stellar senior season in which she led the MVC with a .466 batting average in conference play. Harker was named All-MVC and first-team Academic All-America. In addition, she earned the Valley's Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete award, which goes to the female MVC student-athlete who best exemplifies excellence both in competition and in the classroom.
Harker also earned the MVC's $5,000 postgraduate scholarship after the season and was an All-MVC Tournament team selection. In her career, Harker is one of two players in SIU history to compile both 30 career doubles and 45 career stolen bases. She was a two-time All-MVC performer and a three-time first-team MVC Scholar-Athlete team selection.
Harker has also been active in the community during her four years in Carbondale. She has donated her time to such causes as the Valiant Player, in which she visited with extended-stay hospital patients, and the Special Olympics, among many other charitable causes.
Harker graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA in May and will stay in Carbondale and start studying in the SIU School of Medicine Physician Assistant program.
Now in its 25th year, the 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.
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 nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee, which chooses the top 30 honorees – 10 from each division.
From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three nominees from each division and announces the top nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year.
