Official NCAA Release
INDIANAPOLIS – Cedarville University graduate student-athlete Carsyn Koch-Johnson was officially chosen by the Great Midwest Athletic Conference as a nominee for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
A total of 148 student-athletes were chosen by NCAA conferences from a pool that originally consisted of 585 school nominees.
The cross country/track & field standout is one of 33 nominees coming from Division II. Track and field was also the most represented sport among all chosen conference winners with 72 participants.
She is also among a total of 45 multi-sport student-athletes in this year’s pool of candidates.
Koch-Johnson was crowned the 2018-19 Great Midwest Female Collegiate Achievement Award winner earlier this spring after closing out her illustrious career at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
She was a four-time NCAA DII champion in the 800-meter distance and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2016.
The middle-distance specialist from Maine also earned NCAA All-American honors in the distance medley relay and helped the Yellow Jackets win three different league titles.
She has also been named the Great Midwest Female Athlete of the Year two different times competing as a two-sport student-athlete. Her name is all over the record books and has won athlete of the week in the conference over 20 times throughout her career.
Nominees competing in a sport not sponsored by their school’s core conference were placed in a separate pool to be considered by a selection committee. Up to four independent nominees could be selected to move forward in the process with the conference nominees.
The Top 30 honorees, comprising 10 women from each division, will be named by the Woman of the Year selection committee in September. The selection committee will then narrow the pool to nine finalists — with three from each division — in early October. From those finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the 2019 Woman of the Year.
The 2019 Woman of the Year will be named, and the Top 30 honorees will be celebrated, at the annual banquet Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.
The NCAA Woman of the Year program has recognized graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership since its inception in 1991.