INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – West Texas A&M's
Valda Kabia and
Shanna McBroom were named as nominees for the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the organization announced on Thursday afternoon.
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.
The nominees competed in 24 sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 251 nominees from Division I, 107 from Division II and 177 from Division III. Multisport student-athletes account for 141 of the nominees.
Kabia finished her career as a five-time All-American, five-time Lone Star Conference Champion and was named the Lone Star Conference Indoor Track & Field Female Academic Athlete of the Year in 2019. This past season, the Richmond, British Columbia native helped WT finish third at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in May as she ran the anchor leg on the 4x100-meter relay that finished 3
rd. She also scored 9.5 points for WT when they won the 2018 NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field National Championship.
McBroom, the 2021 NFCA Player and Catcher of the Year, was a driving force for a Lady Buff softball program that won 21 of their final 23 games en route to winning the national title. The Sachse native played in 219 games during her five-year career where she ranks in the Top 10 in hits, triples, home runs, at-bats and runs.
This past season she hit .429 with 13 doubles, eight triples, seven home runs and 37 RBIs for a slugging percentage of .701. She also walked eight times while getting hit by 12 pitches for a .483 on-base percentage. She also stole a career-high 35 bases.
Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from their pool of member school nominees. All nominees who compete in a sport not sponsored by their school's primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be considered by a selection committee. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose 10 women from each division to make up the Top 30.
The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the nine finalists will be announced this fall. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year later this fall.
