INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA and Sun Belt Conference announced Tuesday that Appalachian State’s Jeannez Daniel and South Alabama’s Hannah Godfrey have been selected as the conference nominees for the NCAA’s prestigious Woman of the Year award.
Daniel is earning her master's degree at App State in applied data analytics and recorded a solid 3.76 GPA. In her lone season for the Black and Gold, she didn't disappoint. Daniel posted a 10-8 mark in singles with a team-best 7-1 record in Sun Belt action. Daniel's seven conference wins were tied for fourth in the Sun Belt and won nine of her last 12 matches. She earned the Sun Belt Women's Tennis Player of the Week award after going 2-0 in singles and doubles against Coastal Carolina and Arkansas State. In doubles, she led the team with 13 overall doubles victories and a 13-4 mark. With Rebecca Morse, she went 10-1 on top of an undefeated league record of 7-0. The Mountaineers were the only team in the conference to go unblemished in conference action.
A native of Thornton-Cleveleys, England, Godfrey earned All-Sun Belt recognition three times, was the conference's 2017 defensive player of the year and was a member of three NCAA Tournament teams. Godfrey was a second-team pick as a sophomore after playing a team-high 2,022 minutes and leading a defense that ranked first in the league and set a new school record in goals against average (0.84) and shutouts (12). The following season, she once again paced the team in minutes played (1,935) as the Jaguars led the Sun Belt in shutouts while ranking second in goals against average, and moved up to first-team all-conference honors, in addition to her defensive player of the year award.
The NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport, must have completed eligibility in her primary sport, and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2019.
Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee then identifies the Top 30 – 10 from each division – and from there selects three finalists from each division. The Committee on Women’s Athletics then selects the winner from the nine finalists.
All 30 Woman of the Year honorees will be recognized, and the 2019 Woman of the Year announced, at an awards dinner at the Westin Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019.