From Washington University Athletics
Lucy Cheadle, a 2015 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, was selected as one of the top 30 honorees for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, as announced Thursday.
The top 30 women, selected from a record 480 school nominees, are composed of 10 honorees from each NCAA division. Later this month, three finalists will be chosen from each division to form nine finalists for the award. The 2015 Woman of the Year will be announced and the top 30 women will be honored during a ceremony on Sunday, Oct. 18 in Indianapolis.
"Being a Top-30 finalist is a tremendous honor because it encompasses so many different things: academics, athletics, and community involvement. I know the other women nominated are all incredibly impressive, so to be included on that list is very humbling," Cheadle said. "Getting to represent WashU Athletics and the University Athletic Association (UAA) at the finalist banquet is really exciting. I'm so grateful to the people who nominated me, and my biggest thanks and recognition goes to Coach (Jeff) Stiles and all my amazing teammates because my career at WashU would have been impossible without them."
Cheadle graduated in May as a three-time individual NCAA Division III National Champion in cross country and track & field. A 13-time All-American in her career, she won back-to-back national titles in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2014 and 2015, and added a third national championship in the 5,000 at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Last year, Cheadle became just the 13th runner in NCAA Division III women's cross country history to earn All-America honors all four years when she raced to a national runner-up finish at the 2014 National Championships.
She also excelled in the classroom throughout her collegiate career at WashU, graduating in May with a 3.80 GPA while majoring in chemical engineering with a minor in environmental engineering. A three-time Capital One Academic All-America selection, Cheadle was named the 2015 Capital One Division III Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America of the Year.
A two-year cross country and track & field team captain, Cheadle was also active in WashU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). As a member of the Executive Committee, she spearheaded WashU's annual tennis shoe drive, donating shoes to a non-profit organization that sends clean water to South America. In addition, she was a member of WashU's Engineers Without Borders Executive Committee. Cheadle led a team of more than 20 students who won a grant from the Missouri Sewer Department to build a bioretention basin in a low-income St. Louis neighborhood. She helped organize the grant research and served as the chief author of the grant proposal.
This marks the 25th year of the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, which was established in 1991 to celebrate the achievements of women in intercollegiate athletics. The top 30 honorees reflect the pillars of the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, with outstanding achievements in academics, athletics, service and leadership.