INDIANAPOLIS – Kendall Cornick, a May 2021 graduate of Augustana University and 2019 Softball National Champion, has been selected as one of the Top 30 honorees for the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Cornick, hailing from Mason City, Iowa, graduated with her degrees in biology and psychology after being named a unanimous First Team All-American and the NCAA Division II Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.

Whittled from a group of 535 school nominees, the group was narrowed to 154 nominees from NCAA conferences, Cornick is among the Top 30 with 10 selected from each of the three NCAA divisions.

"We are thrilled to recognize the 30 honorees selected this year," said John Kietzmann, chair of the selection committee and associate director of athletics for marketing at Metropolitan State University of Denver. "These women excelled in the classroom and competition, while still prioritizing serving their peers and communities despite the challenges they faced during the pandemic. They represent the thousands of women competing in college sports each year, and we congratulate them for their incredible achievements."

In its 31st year, the NCAA Woman of the Year is based on four pillars: Academics, Athletics, Service and Leadership.

Cornick, who graduated with a 3.94 GPA, checks all the pillars. Having helped the Vikings to the 2019 softball championship, she followed up with a stellar shortened 2020 season and even better 2021 season where she was a First Team All-America selection by the NFCA and Division II Conference Commissioners Association. She was a finalist as the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II Player of the Year while being named the NSIC Player of the Year and D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year.

With a combination of athletics and academic performance, she was named the CoSIDA Division II Academic All-America Team Member of the Year and earned the D2CCA Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year just this past month. In addition, Cornick was named the NSIC's Kelley Scholar-Athlete of the Year, going to the conference's top student-athlete.

A 2021 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient, Cornick analyzed drug targets for medulloblastoma, a common form of childhood brain cancer, as a student research fellow. She also served as director of community outreach for Augustana's Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness Program, providing free kidney health screenings. Cornick was a surgical services volunteer and pediatric companion at Sanford Hospital, as well as a surgical assistant at Avera McKennan Hospital.

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 announced Nov. 9 during a virtual awards ceremony.

Of the Top 30, the average GPA is 3.92 while five members, including Cornick, are NCAA Postgraduate recipients. Cornick is currently attending medical school at the University of Iowa.

--GoAugie.com--