YORK, Pa. – Salisbury senior field hockey student-athlete Breck Sullivan was selected by the Capital Athletic Conference Athletic Council as the CAC’s candidate for 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Sullivan is one of 141 NCAA female student-athletes from across all three NCAA divisions to be chosen as a Woman of the Year candidate. These honorees were chosen from a record 517 school nominees. Fifty-one nominees are from Division III, with 54 from Division I, and 36 from Division II. 

To be eligible for the award, a female student-athlete must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end of the 2016 spring season, graduated no later than the end of the 2016 summer term and achieved a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.50.

Sullivan is the second Salisbury student-athlete to be selected as the CAC’s nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year. The other was lacrosse player Sue Ackermann in 2008, who went on to become a national finalist.

Sullivan, an environmental studies major, graduated with a 3.96 cumulative grade point average this past spring. A co-recipient of the CAC Medal of Inspiration award in 2015-16 and one of just three national finalists for the prestigious Honda Inspiration Award, she was a member of the Dean’s List each semester and collected numerous academic honors throughout her career. In 2016, she received the Salisbury University Environmental Studies Award for Excellence in Scholarship and the Guerrieri University Center Scholar-Athlete Award. Additionally, she was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, a National Honor Society that recognizes scholars in the top 10% of their class, and Phi Mu Epsilon, a National Mathematics Honor Society.

She was one of 34 students chosen nationally for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greater Research Opportunity Fellowship, earned National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) National Academic Squad honors all four years, was a Gladiator Scholar of Distinction from 2014-16 and a member of the both Phi Eta Sigma, a National Freshman Honor Society, and Chi Alpha Sigma, a National College Athletic Honor Society.

She received several scholarships from Salisbury University, including the Mary L. Nock Scholarship, the President’s Scholarship, and the Achieve Scholarship. Rounding out her long list of academic accolades were an appearance on the 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large Team, and the 2014 Elite 89 Award, presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 89 championships.

Sullivan was the anchor of the SU defense which consistently ranked among the nation’s top units. Throughout her four-year career, Sullivan helped Salisbury to a 65-13 record, three CAC titles, four NCAA tournament appearances, the national semifinals in 2014, and the national championship game in 2013.

Sullivan accumulated numerous accolades during her career. She was a two-time first-team All-CAC selection (2014, 2015) and claimed all-region second team honors from the NFHCA in 2015. She earned first team ECAC Mid-Atlantic Region honors in 2014, was named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team in 2014.

Now in its 26th year, the Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service, and leadership. Every year, the NCAA encourages each member college and university to honor its top one or two graduating female student-athletes by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.

Next, conferences assess their member school nominees and select up to two conference nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the top 30 honorees – 10 from each division.

From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 16 in Indianapolis.

To view the list of school nominees, click here.

Four national finalists have represented the CAC in the NCAA Woman of the Year competition since 1996, including Goucher’s Michele Mohlman (1996), Mary Washington’s Melissa Block (2003), Goucher’s Stephanie LaGue (2005) and Salisbury’s Sue Ackermann (2008).

 CAC NCAA Woman of the Year Candidates