Eastern Illinois' Kandace Arnold and Austin Peay's Carrie Burggraf are the Ohio Valley Conference's nominees for the NCAA Women's of the Year award. The award will be announced at the Woman of the Year Awards Dinner in Indianapolis on October 17.
Each conference nominates up to two women and from that group the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA) narrows it down to the top 10 per division which will be announced in August. In September, the CWA will select the top 3 per division.
The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Student-athletes are nominated only once in their career by their institution.
Burggraf was named OVC Indoor Field Athlete of Year and captured the OVC Indoor and Outdoor Championships in pole vault during this school year, the fifth and sixth OVC pole vault championship of her illustrious career. With a 4.00 GPA, she has been an OVC Medal of Honor and Commissioner's Honor Roll recipient, as well as being selected as an OVC Scholar-Athlete. With her perfect GPA, she has been named to the Austin Peay President's List and Athletics Directors Honor Roll every semester of her college career. She has also been named an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and a U.S. Track Coaches All-Academic Selection.
For being in the Top 15% of her class, Burggraf is a member of Gamma Beta Phi, as well as being in the Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society and the Founder's Circle of the Pre-Law Society. She is also in the History Club, the member of the Campus Safety Committee and serves as a Disability Services note-taker.
She has already been awarded the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, which she will use to attend the University of Pittsburgh in the fall, where she will focus on a degree in global international studies with a concentration in human rights.
Arnold, who was recently named the OVC Female Athlete of the Year, had a dominant year as a field athlete, re-writing the Eastern Illinois record books and winning OVC Championships. The senior dominated both the OVC Indoor & Outdoor Championships in 2010, being named "Athlete of the Championship" for both events this year. At the Indoor Championship she won the shot put and weight throw and at the Outdoor Championship she took home titles in shot put and discus. Those performances were instrumental in Eastern Illinois winning the OVC Championship at both events. At the OVC Outdoor Championship she set a new league record in the shot put with a throw of 51 feet, 7.75 inches. Most recently she participated in the NCAA West Regional in both the shot put and discus, qualifying for the NCAA Championship in the shot put, becoming the first EIU woman to accomplish that feat. Overall in her outstanding career, she won 11 OVC Event Championships. Arnold holds the Eastern Illinois all-time records for indoor shot put and weight throw and outdoor shot put, discus and hammer.
