(Editor’s note: Montana State University press release)
BOZEMAN – Montana State skier Kari Hole and tennis standout Angelina Philippova are two of a record 581 female college athletes nominated for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
The NCAA Woman of the Year award, established in 1991, honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
Hole, an exercise science major from Foerde, Norway, captured 2018 Second-Team All-America honors at the 2018 NCAA Skiing Championships after finishing tenth in giant slalom to guide the Bobcats to a sixth place finish. On the season, she posted two podium finishes, along with three top 5 showings and a total of six top 10 placings.
Philippova, a native of Astrakhan, Russia, received her degree in business finance. As the only senior on the tennis squad, she posted a team-high 11 victories in singles play and eight wins in doubles action. Philippova was named to the All-Big Sky Conference Honorable Mention team and was recently named MSU’s Big Sky Female Scholar Athlete of the Year.
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.
The nominees competed in 20 different women’s sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 251 from Division I, 131 from Division II and 199 from Division III. A program-record 170 were multisport athletes in college.
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.
