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MIAC announces nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year, DIIICA Awards

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) announced its nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year and the Division III Commissioners Association (DIIICA) Student-Athletes of the Year awards on Thursday.
 
Bethel’s Annessa Ihde and St. Catherine’s Jaycee Rhodes have been selected as the MIAC nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Ihde, Rhodes, and St. Olaf’s Will Kelly have also been nominated for the DIIICA Student-Athlete of the Year honors.
 
Ihde (Appleton, Wis. | North) graduated from Bethel in the spring with a 4.00 grade-point average and degrees in international relations and Spanish with a minor in creative writing. She was a First Team All-America honoree after placing seventh in the 800-meter run at the 2024 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. Ihde was a three-time NCAA Championship qualifier in the 800-meter and was on the 4x400-meter relay squad that qualified for the 2024 and 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships. She was also a seven-time All-MIAC honoree in the indoor season and a four-time All-Conference honoree in outdoor competition.
 
Off the track, Ihde was a three-time Academic All-Conference honoree who earned five MIAC Elite 22 honors between the indoor and outdoor seasons. At the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships, Ihde was also named recipient of the Elite 90 Award. Ihde's service and leadership opportunities have included interning at a local nonprofit Jonathan House that provides housing for people seeking asylum in the United States. In 2022, she served as a legal services intern at Arrive Ministries, a local nonprofit offering social and legal services to newly arrived immigrants and refugees.
 
“Competing as a Division III athlete not only allowed me to pursue opportunities but encouraged me to invest in my community and embrace all kinds of training,” Ihde said. “Training has taught me to be joyful and grateful in the face of fear and failure. It has taught me how to say yes to opportunities that might intimidate me, but ultimately push me to grow.”
 
Rhodes (St. Paul, Minn. | Eastview) was a four-time All-MIAC honoree in women’s golf for the Wildcats and the 2020-21 MIAC Rookie of the Year. A two-time Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-Region selection, Rhodes helped St. Catherine to three NCAA Championship appearances during her undergraduate career.
 
A double major in business administration and sales management, Rhodes completed her undergraduate degree this past spring. She was a three-time Academic All-MIAC honoree and a four-time WGCA All-American Scholar. She also earned Academic All-District honors from College Sports Communicators in 2024 and served as St. Catherine’s chapter president for Chi Alpha Sigma, the National College Athlete Honor Society. In addition to her academic success, Rhodes spent two years on the Wildcat Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (WSAAC) and was selected to attend the NCAA Student Immersion Program and NCAA Career in Sports Forum. In the community, she has assisted in coordinating volunteer opportunities with Feed My Starving Children and the St. Kate's Food Shelf. She has also volunteered with the First Tee of Minnesota and the Fairway Foundation to educate and expand offerings for youth golfers.
 
“Each day where I have felt overwhelmed, with far too much on my plate, pushed me to be a well-rounded leader,” Rhodes said. “Unafraid to face challenges head-on and communicate to others what we need to do together as a team to be successful.”
 
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. The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the 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. 
 
Ihde and Rhodes were among nine extremely deserving student-athletes nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award by MIAC institutions this year. Other institutional nominees included Gustavus’ Katie McCoy (ice hockey), Hamline’s Elizabeth Valley (ice hockey), Macalester’s Jocelyn Radke (swimming & diving), Saint Benedict’s Fiona Smith (cross country/track & field), St. Catherine’s Ari Green (soccer), St. Olaf’s Hanah Peschel (softball), and St. Scholastica’s Lily Beneke (track & field). All nine individuals were also considered to receive the MIAC nomination for DIIICA Women’s Sport Student-Athlete of the Year.
 
Following the announcements of Conference nominees, the NCAA 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 in November. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will announce the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year at the NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee in January 2025.
 
St. Olaf’s Will Kelly joins Ihde and Rhodes as a nominee for the DIIICA Student-Athlete of the Year awards.
 
Kelly (Golf, Ill. | Glenbrook South) graduated from St. Olaf in May with a 3.56 GPA as a chemistry major and is headed to Montana State University in the fall to pursue a PhD in biochemistry. Over the course of his career on the Hill, Kelly was a four-time All-American in cross country and track & field. He also picked up four individual MIAC titles - including back-to-back steeplechase championships - and was the individual men’s cross country runner-up twice. Kelly collected 10 All-MIAC accolades and seven U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region honors over the course of his career, while also posting a 10th-place national finish in the steeplechase in 2023.
 
In the classroom, Kelly was Academic All-MIAC in both cross country and track & field and racked up five USTFCCCA All-Academic honors during his career. He added Academic All-America honors this past spring, becoming the 19th Ole in history to receive the award from College Sports Communicators. He also spent time at Mayo Clinic, researching carpal tunnel syndrome and presenting his work at the Orthopedic Research Society.
 
“Balancing academics and athletics can be difficult,” Kelly said. “I am proud that I stayed healthy, remained in good academic standing, and was a good teammate. I have constantly been supported by athletic trainers, professors, and coaches who allowed me to grow into the athlete I am today.”
 
Kelly and Macalester’s Caleb Williams (basketball) were finalists for the MIAC’s nomination for DIIICA Men's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year. This is the third year of the DIIICA awards, which recognize graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service, and leadership. Voting is conducted by the commissioners within each of the ten regions, with the top men’s sport and women’s sport honorees recognized as finalists for the Awards Committee to select the Division III Commissioner's Association Men's Sport and Women's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year. The awards are sponsored by Chi Alpha Sigma, the National College Athlete Honor Society. Regional and national honorees for both the DIIICA awards will be announced later this month.
 
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