BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Seven Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) student-athletes are among 577 nominees for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Of those very deserving individuals, the MIAC has selected St. Catherine University's Macy Klein to serve as the Conference's nominee.
The NCAA Woman of the Year was established in 1991 to honor graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service, and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
Klein (Sr. | Apple Valley, Minn.) was part of the Wildcat swimming and diving team of six that led St. Kate's to a 10th place finish at the NCAA Division III Championships in 2022. Klein appeared in seven events, earning All-America honors in three and All-America honorable mention distinction in two. Klein reset her own program record in the 50-yard freestyle with a split of 23.20 last season, one of six total records she accumulated as a Wildcat.
For her work in the classroom, Klein was recognized by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) as a Scholar All-American three times and was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as an Academic All-American in 2020. She was also celebrated as the MIAC's Elite 22 recipient for women's swimming & diving with the highest cumulative GPA among competitors at the 2020 MIAC Swimming & Diving Championships. In the community, Klein has volunteered at events such as the Twin Cities Time to Fly 5K, raising funds to combat childhood cancer, as well as with Feed My Starving Children where she organized groups to attend and package meals for children in need. Post-graduation, Klein has been selected for a ten-year service commitment as a pilot and commissioned officer in the United States Air Force.
"My student-athlete experience shaped me into who I am today and the person I can be for my future coworkers, partner, friends, children, and country," Klein said. "I am armed with my story as a student-athlete and for that I will forever be grateful."
The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award. This year's nominees included 248 women from Division I, 127 from Division II, and 202 from Division III. A total of 23 sports are represented, with multisport student-athletes accounting for 125 of the nominees.
Klein was among eight extremely deserving student-athletes nominated by MIAC institutions this year. Other institutional nominees included Bethel's Grace Riermann (tennis), Concordia's Cayle Hovland (track & field), Macalester's Mackenzie Clarke (softball), Saint Benedict's Teresa Renier (cross country, track & field), Saint Mary's Anna Swanson (cross country, track & field), and St. Scholastica's Olivia Howe (softball).
Following the announcements of Conference nominees, 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 the nine finalists will be announced this fall. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year later this fall.