Track and Field - M | 7/23/2015 12:05:00 PM
BURNABY, BC – Simon Fraser University middle distance runner
Lindsey Butterworth has received the Great Northwest Athletic Conference nomination for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Now in its 25th year, the Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
Butterworth enjoyed a remarkable senior season at SFU, winning two NCAA titles and then competing for Team Canada at the FISU World University Games where she placed seventh in the world.
Butterworth, who captured 10 GNAC titles and seven All-America awards during her collegiate career, was honored as the GNAC's Female Athlete of the Year in 2014-15. This past season, the North Vancouver native won NCAA crowns in the 800 both indoors and outdoors in addition to capturing five conference titles. At the NCAA outdoor championships, she clocked a winning time in the 800 of 2:02.88, just four-tenths of a second off the championship meet record.
She was also co-winner of SFU Female Athlete of the Year.
Butterworth was team captain of the track and field team while carrying a 3.13 CGPA in Health Sciences and Kinesiology. She volunteered as a learning coach and peer tutor with the Athletics Department and in the community as a youth coach and mentor. She also assisted with a food program for underprivileged elementary school-aged children.
Butterworth is one of 147 NCAA female student-athletes that have been named 2015 Woman of the Year honorees by conferences and independent schools. She was chosen from an original pool of 480 school nominees, spanning all three NCAA divisions.
Of the 147 athletes recognized, 57 honorees competed in Division I, 39 competed in Division II and 51 competed in Division III.
The Woman of the Year selection committee will next select the top 10 honorees in each division. These top 30 honorees will be announced in early September. The selection committee will then choose and announce the top nine finalists (three from each division) at the end of September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from amongst those nine finalists to determine the 2015 Woman of the Year.
The top 30 honorees will be honored and the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on Oct. 18.
The NCAA encourages member schools to honor its top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award. Then, conferences assess each nominee's eligibility and select up to two conference nominees. The GNAC selected Butterworth as its nominee.
