EIU Athletes NCAA Woman Of The Year Nominees

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois Megan Gingerich and Bridget Sanchez have been selected as the Ohio Valley Conference's nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. The award will be announced at the Woman of the Year Awards Dinner in Indianapolis on October 14.

Each conference nominates up to two women and from that group the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA) narrows it down to the top 10 per division which will be announced in August. In September, the CWA will select the top 3 per division.

The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Student-athletes are nominated only once in their career by their institution.

Gingerich was a member of the Eastern Illinois cross country and track teams and finished her career as the school record holder in the 800 meters for both indoor and outdoor track while also owning the top indoor 600-meter mark in EIU history. In the classroom, Gingerich carried a 3.80 GPA in the communication disorders and sciences masters program. She was an OVC Scholar-Athlete recipient in 2010-11 while also earning the OVC Medal of Honor in 2011.

A member of the EIU track team, Sanchez holds the second fastest indoor 400-meter time in school history while ranking third in the outdoor 400 meters. She holds a 4.00 GPA while majoring in sociology. She was named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll and received the OVC Medal of Honor in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2012, Sanchez was an Arthur Ashe, Jr. Scholar Athlete Award finalist, an Ohio Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete honoree and earned the Eastern Illinois Presidential Award. She also was named the Psi Chi Outstanding Student of the Year while also winning the Eastern Illinois Athletic Director's Award for leadership, community service and athletics.