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BYU middle-distance runner Meghan Hunter competes at the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, on June 10, 2023. Photo by Joey Garrison, BYU, courtesy of Church News.All rights reserved.This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.
By Trent Toone, Church News
Meghan Hunter, a BYU middle-distance runner and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been named a Big 12 Conference nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Years after a vehicle accident left her with a broken neck, the senior from Provo, Utah, came back to become a two-time first-team All-American. In June, Hunter placed 22nd in the 800-meter race at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
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BYU middle-distance runner Meghan Hunter is pictured with BYU women's track and cross-country coach Diljeet Taylor at the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, on June 10, 2023. Photo by Joey Garrison, BYU, courtesy of Church News.All rights reserved.Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three NCAA divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by summer 2024.
Thirty honorees, 10 per division, are selected in fall 2024. A selection committee will announce the top nine, three per division, in late 2024. The 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the 2025 NCAA convention in January.
Hunter and Oklahoma softball star Alyssa Brito were selected by the Big 12 Conference to move on to the next round of voting for the award.
Hunter graduated in April 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in communications disorders. She is currently working toward a master’s degree in speech and language pathology with a projected graduation date of April 2025. She will compete in her final year of collegiate eligibility during the 2025 indoor and outdoor track and field seasons.
The NCAA Woman of the Year nomination comes only a few months after Hunter was a finalist for the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards’ Honda Inspiration Award, an annual honor given to a female student-athlete who has experienced extraordinary physical or emotional adversity, injury or illness, or personal sacrifice during her college enrollment and yet returned to athletic success.
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