IRVING, Texas – Former Southern Methodist University track and field student-athlete Ashton Woods was named as one of the Top 30 honorees of the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year award, the NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee announced on Thursday.
Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award is rooted in Title IX and recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their NCAA eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
Woods emerged from a list of 154 conference-level nominees on the national ballot to be included among the Top 30 honorees for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Nine finalists will emerge from Top 30 later this fall, and the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced on Nov. 9.
Woods joined four other former American Athletic Conference student-athletes who were previously named to the Top 30 of the NCAA Woman of the Year award process since 2014. Memphis women’s soccer player Stasia Mallin (2020), UConn women’s basketball player Kia Nurse (2018), Cincinnati track and field competitor Juliana Madzia (2017) and Memphis track and field competitor Chardae Greenlee (2017) each finished as American Top 30 honorees for the award.
Woods, a native of San Antonio, Texas, earned American All-Academic Team distinction in each competitive season as a standout at SMU. A mechanical engineering major with a minor in law and legal reasoning, Woods was the president of University’s chapter of SAAC, the secretary of the Alpha Chi Honor Society and was a co-founder of the Black Student-Athlete Committee at SMU. She also served as a student ambassador and vice president of organizational affairs for the Lyle School of Engineering.
Primarily competing in sprints and hurdles during her SMU career, Woods became the first Mustang hurdler to earn All-America status after placing 16th in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Woods was also the first SMU track and field student-athlete to qualify for multiple events (400-meter hurdles, 4x400-meter relay) at the NCAA Championships in 10 years. She earned a gold medal as a member of the SMU 4x400-meter relay entry that claimed victory at the 2020 American Indoor Track and Field Championships and added a pair of runner-up showings in the DMR for the Mustangs at the 2018 and 2019 editions of the American Indoor Championships.
American Athletic Conference NCAA Woman Of The Year Nominees (since 2014)
2021
Hannah Markel, Cincinnati, Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field
Ashton Woods, SMU, Women’s Track and Field (Top 30)
2020
Stasia Mallin, Memphis, Women’s Soccer (Top 30)
Evelyne Viens, South Florida, Women’s Soccer
2019
Annette Echikunwoke, Cincinnati, Women’s Track and Field
Loretta Blaut, Cincinnati, Women’s Track and Field
2018
Jordan Cotleur, Cincinnati, Women’s Soccer
Kia Nurse, UConn, Women’s Basketball (Top 30)
2017
Juliana Madzia, Cincinnati, Women’s Track and Field (Top 30)
Chardae Greenlee, Memphis, Women’s Track and Field (Top 30)
2016
Avery Acker, SMU, Women’s Indoor Volleyball
Morgan Tuck, UConn, Women’s Basketball
2015
Jamie Kaplan, Tulane, Women’s Basketball
Kiah Stokes, UConn, Women’s Basketball
2014
Kayla King, Houston, Women’s Track and Field
Catherine Leibbrandt, South Florida, Women’s Soccer