Liberty Athletics: Crowder, Finnigan nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

Liberty senior women’s basketball player Tatyana Crowder and senior women’s swimmer Alicia Finnigan are two of a record 585 nominees for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

Crowder appeared in 109 games during her collegiate career and served as a team captain for three seasons. The native of Roanoke, Va., helped Liberty win the Big South Conference title during the 2017-18 season and aided in the Lady Flames’ run to the ASUN Conference title game in 2018-19.

Also a standout in the classroom, Crowder graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in social work, maintaining a 3.92 GPA. The 2019 ASUN All-Academic Team member is currently wrapping up a master’s degree in public health.

A native of Sugar Land, Texas, Finnigan set a program record with 10 career CCSA podium appearances, including three straight victories at the conference championships in the 200 fly. A two-time NCAA Championships participant, Finnigan concluded her career as the program’s record holder in the 200 fly (1:55.58). The 2018 CCSA Women’s Swimmer of the Year led the Lady Flames to their second CCSA team title in program history in February.

Finnigan graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She received the NCAA’s most prestigious academic award, the ELITE 90 Award, given to the one student-athlete at the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship with the highest GPA. A two-time Google Cloud Academic All-America® selection, Finnigan will be named to the CSCAA Scholar All-America team for the fourth time in her career.

Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division.

The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30 and announce the nine finalists in September. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then will choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual award ceremony Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.