Witter Nominated For NCAA Woman Of The Year
UW-Oshkosh senior Brianna Witter has been nominated for the 2018 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Woman of the Year Award.
Witter, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in biology, played four seasons of softball and three years of volleyball at UW-Oshkosh after transferring from the University of Tampa (Fla.) following the 2014 fall semester.
The NCAA Woman of the Year award, established in 1991, honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
This year, NCAA member schools nominated a record 581 student-athletes for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. The nominees competed in 20 different women’s sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 251 from Division I, 131 from Division II and 199 from Division III. A program-record 170 were multisport athletes in college.
Conferences now 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.
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 the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine.
The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 28 in Indianapolis, Ind.
In addition to Witter, the other four Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) nominations were UW-La Crosse’s Amy Enright (gymnastics); UW-Platteville’s Allison Jensen (volleyball); UW-Stout’s Lydia Meier (track & field); and UW-Whitewater’s Michaela Matthys (swimming & diving).
Witter compiled a 3.76 cumulative grade point average during her seven semesters at UW-Oshkosh. She was a five-time member of the UW-Oshkosh Dean’s List and a three-time member of the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll. Witter’s undergraduate career included involvement with Aurora Medical Center; Fox Valley Hematology and Oncology; UW-Oshkosh Student-Athlete Advisory Committee; UW-Oshkosh Shamrock Shuffle; and Feeding America.
Witter played in 142 softball games for UW-Oshkosh, including 97 as a starting outfielder. Her career totals included a .280 batting average with nine doubles, four triples, one home run, 50 runs batted in and 43 runs scored. Witter started 23 of the 33 games that she played in this past spring and received All-WIAC honorable mention recognition after hitting .333 with two doubles, two triples, 18 runs batted in and 12 runs scored.
Witter appeared in 66 volleyball matches for the Titans and hit .145 with 247 kills, 95 blocks and 87 digs as a middle blocker. She played in 34 matches last fall and hit .105 with 114 kills, 54 blocks and 49 digs.
Witter, a Muskego High School graduate, participated in three NCAA postseason tournaments as a Titan – 2017 and 2018 in softball and 2016 in volleyball. She also was a member of UW-Oshkosh volleyball teams that tied for the WIAC championship in 2015 and 2016.