Emily Richards named OAC conference-level nominee for 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award

By Blake Moore

ADA – Former Ohio Northern track and field and cross country standout Emily Richards has been named the Ohio Athletic Conference's nominee for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award, the NCAA national office announced Wednesday afternoon.

Richards, a 13-time NCAA All-American and nine-time NCAA Champion, now moves to the final rounds of selection for the NCAA Woman of the Year award due to the conference-level honor. Her nomination marks the first time in school history that an ONU female athlete has been honored as the conference's representative.

With her selection, she joins a list of 153 student-athletes who were nominated across the country by their respective conferences for the national award.

Conference representatives were selected from a list of 581 total women nominated by their academic institutions earlier this year, the most nominees in the 28-year history of the program.

The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee will now begin to evaluate the remaining student-athletes, narrowing the list down to the Top 30 honorees by early September. Ten representatives will be picked from each of the three competitive NCAA divisions. The selection committee will then reduce the nominee list to nine finalists, three from each NCAA division, before announcing the NCAA Woman of the Year award at a special dinner banquet in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 28. 

Richards will receive an official letter and certificate from the NCAA commemorating her selection by the Ohio Athletic Conference.