Way named PBC nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year Award

Augusta University women’s cross country and track and field star, Lara Way, has been recognized as a conference-level honoree for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Way represents the Peach Belt Conference and Augusta.

The NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport, must have completed eligibility in her primary sport, and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2018.

NCAA member schools nominated 581 women for the national award, the most in the program’s 28-year history. Way was nominated by Augusta University and selected for conference recognition because of her outstanding achievements in her collegiate career. Nationally, 153 conference-level honorees are nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year.

Next, conference-level nominations will be forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee, which will choose the top 10 honorees in each of the three NCAA divisions. The NCAA will announce the Top 30 honorees on ncaa.org in early September.

From among those 30 candidates, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee then determines the top three finalists in each division. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from the nine finalists. The 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at an awards dinner in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 28, 2018.

Lara Way helped guide the Augusta women’s cross country team to a No. 6 NCAA Southeast Region ranking and to a runner-up finish at the Peach Belt Conference Championships. Was was named first team All-Conference in back-to-back seasons and was named NCAA All-Region following the 2017 season. Also a PBC All-Academic selection, Way guided the Jaguars as they finished first or second in every regular-season race on the season. She was accepted into the Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University on Friday, Dec. 1.

Lara Way as a Senior in 2017:

Named NCAA All-Region for placing top 25 at the NCAA Southeast Region … Named to Peach Belt All-Conference and All-Academic teams … Led the Jaguars in three races … Had four top-10 finishes, and six top-20 finishes … Helped Augusta finish 2^nd in the PBC Championship by finishing 3^rd, posting her best 5K time of 17:53.4, and breaking the record for fastest 5K in school history … Finished 11^th in the Southeast Region Championship with a 6K time of 22.58.8 … Finished 5^th in the Bobcat Invitational with a 6K time of 22:5.0 … Best finish was 2^nd in the Jaguar Invitational with a 5K time of 19.30.1.

For more on Way’s fight about doubt, anemia and the desire to quit, read Alone in the Woods at Augusta University’s magazine site.