Tkaczuk Nominated For NCAA Woman Of The Year Award
Senior gymnast Baylee Tkaczuk is UW-Oshkosh's nominee for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, which honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions.
NCAA member schools nominated a record 605 student-athletes for the 2020 Woman of the Year Award. The nominees competed in 24 sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 259 from Division I, 126 from Division II and 220 from Division III.
Tkaczuk, the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association's 2020 Outstanding Senior of the Year, competed on both the balance beam and uneven bars during all nine of UW-Oshkosh's meets this season. She ranked second in the NCGA West Region and fifth nationally on the uneven bars with her average score of 9.6625. Tkaczuk's average score of 9.5563 on the balance beam ranked 17th regionally and 27th nationally.
Tkaczuk recorded season-best scores of 9.70 on the balance beam at the Harley-Davidson Invitational held Feb. 7 and 9.75 on the uneven bars at the Texas Woman's University Quadrangular held Jan. 26.
At the WIAC Championship on March 7, Tkaczuk helped UW-Oshkosh to its first league title since 1996 by finishing second on the uneven bars and 18th on the balance beam with her respective scores of 9.675 and 9.375. Tkaczuk, the 2017 WIAC balance beam champion, also finished fifth on the balance beam and ninth on the uneven bars at the 2019 conference championship and second on the uneven bars at the 2018 league meet.
Tkaczuk received All-America honors on the uneven bars this season from both the NCGA and Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association. Tkaczuk was scheduled to compete with her UW-Oshkosh teammates at the NCGA Championship on March 27 in Ithaca. N.Y., but that meet was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tkaczuk took first place on the uneven bars at the 2017 and 2018 NCGA Championships. Her winning score of 9.85 on the apparatus in 2018 established a championship record. Tkaczuk also finished fourth nationally on the uneven bars in 2019 and sixth on the balance beam in 2018 to earn All-America honors.
Tkaczuk came to UW-Oshkosh from Minooka High School in Illinois. She owns a 3.60 grade point average as a major in psychology and was named the 2020 WIAC Judy Kruckman Women's Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The four-time WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll member was one of 125 students from across the UW System who presented their research at the 17th annual Research in the Rotunda event March 11 in Madison.
Tkaczuk has donated nearly 200 hours of patient care at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute and been a volunteer with Special Olympics and Feeding America.
Student-athletes are nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award by their school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its member schools and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. Then, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee identifies the Top 30 semifinalists – 10 from each division. The selection committee will then determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30 and announce the nine finalists. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year. The winner of this year's award will be announced Nov. 1.
In addition to Tkaczuk, the other five WIAC nominations for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award were UW-La Crosse's Danielle Craig (basketball), UW-Platteville's Johanna Meister (cross country/track & field), UW-Stevens Point's April Gehl (volleyball), UW-Stout's Jessica DuVal (volleyball) and UW-Whitewater's Sara Klimisch (soccer).
Recent NCAA Woman of the Year winners were University of Nebraska track & field jumper Angela Mercurio in 2019, University of Georgia track & field jumper Keturah Orji in 2018 and Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) soccer player Lizzy Crist in 2017.