INDIANAPOLIS – Former Cal State Fullerton softball player Mikaela Francis has been nominated for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award, which is one of the most prestigious honors in college athletics. The NCAA made its announcement on Thursday.
An NCAA record 581 female college athletes have been nominated by NCAA member schools for this year's honor, with 251 coming at the Division I level.
Established in 1991 and now in its 28th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
The nominees competed in 20 different women's sports, and 170 were multisport athletes during their time in college.
Francis graduated with a degree in Human Services and plans on becoming a mental health counselor for student-athletes.
She has been on the Dean's List every semester since Spring 2014 and has been a NFCA Scholar-Athlete All-American the last three years.
Since November 2017, she has been a BOLD Women's Leadership Network Scholar; an honor that has sent her overseas to Laos where she taught girls and young women English and Women's Empowerment courses.
Since 2013, she has participated in Titan Tales, a program in which Fullerton student-athletes go to local elementary school to read to students. She has also volunteered at the annual Girls Sport Expo, an event geared toward providing girls of all socioeconomic backgrounds the opportunity to be involved with athletics since 2008.
On the field, the left-handed hitting first baseman has been big for the Titans in their three consecutive championship-winning seasons.
She finished with a career .224 batting average and a .319 on base percentage. Her most notable moment came in her senior campaign when she crushed a three-run walkoff home run to complete the sweep of the UC Davis Aggies on April 29.
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.
Conferences now will select up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will 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 celebrated and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 28 in Indianapolis.
2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 28 in Indianapolis.
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