Christie makes the cut for top NCAA honor

Christie in the running for NCAA Women of the Year.

By Mark Albenese

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recently announced its top 30 candidates for the Woman of the Year Award and University of Wisconsin-Parkside graduate Hope Christie made the cut from a pool of nearly 430 nominees. Ten honorees from each NCAA division were selected from which nine finalists will be chosen (three from each division) later this month.

"I'm honored to represent both UW-Parkside and the local community as a top 30 honoree for such a prestigious award," said Christie who has had a busy fall. She married fellow UW-Parkside cross country alum Ben Orvold on Saturday, Sept. 8, while preparing to begin her new assignment as the Rangers' graduate assistant coach.

An honors graduate of the UW-Parkside/UW-Milwaukee Consortial Nursing Program, Christie was a 2012 College Sports Information Directors of America First Team Academic All-American selection, the 2012 Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award winner as the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Female Athlete of the Year, and the GLVC Women's Track & Field Scholar Athlete of the Year.

A native of Somers, Christie finished her career as a nine-time all-conference honoree in cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field. She was the 2007 GLVC Freshman of the Year in cross country, the 2009 GLVC Indoor Distance Medley Relay Champion and a six-time qualifier for the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Scholastically, Christie graduated magna cum laude with a 3.84 grade point average. She was a seven-time Academic All-American and a 10-time Academic All-GLVC honoree. In the community, she served as a doctoral research assistant, worked with the Student Nurses Association at Parkside to raise funds for Special Olympics and March of Dimes, mentored foreign exchange students in 2009 and served as a Big Brother/Big Sister mentor in 2012.

"Being an NCAA student-athlete takes dedication to both academic and athletic excellence," said NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee Chair Alecia Shields-Gadson of Coppin State University. "These women rose to that challenge and became leaders on the court, in the classroom, and in their communities. The Woman of the Year honorees are excellent role models and will most certainly continue to make a positive impact on the world."

The NCAA's 2012 Woman of Year will be introduced during an Oct. 14 ceremony in Indianapolis.

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ABOUT THIS STORY:

Story Status: Archived
Publish date: 9/11/2012

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