June 4, 2008

SPOKANE, Wash. - Two Great Northwest Athletic Conference athletes - Courtney Schneider of Western Washington University and Jackie Thomas of Seattle University - have been nominated for the 18th annual NCAA Woman of the Year award.

The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors senior student-athletes for their collegiate achievements in service, leadership, athletics and academics.

Later this summer 30 finalists - 10 from each of the NCAA's three divisions - will be named. The top 10 honorees from Divisions I, II and III will be honored, and the 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year announced, at a dinner in Indianapolis Oct. 19.

Schneider (Snohomish, WA) led Western Washington to a historic volleyball season last fall as the Vikings posted a 26-5 record and reached the NCAA Division II national championship match after earlier becoming the first team in conference history to win the NCAA Division II West Region title.

Schneider completed her career as one of the top defensive players in NCAA Division II history. She set NCAA single season (7.74) and career (7.00) records for most digs per game and finished third in NCAA history in career digs with 2,695.

She also earned Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Year honors and was a first team American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American selection.

In all, she won a total of six All-American awards in her career, including three by the AVCA (first team in 2007, third team in 2006 and honorable mention in 2005) and three by Daktronics (first team in 2006, second team in 2007 and third team in 2005). The Daktronics team is chosen by the nation's sports information directors.

In the classroom, the Community Health major was a three-time GNAC academic all-star and a two-time West Region all-star posting a 3.62 grade point average.

During her career at WWU, she was also active as a program development volunteer with the Whatcom Family YMCA, as an assistant teacher with Gold Creek pre-school and as a Sunday school volunteer with the Gold Creek Community Church.

Thomas (Tacoma, WA - Curtis) was a standout basketball player for Seattle University earning honorable mention all-conference honors this past season. She finished second in the conference in steals (3.11) and seventh in assists (2.96).

She completed her career with a school-record 234 steals, which is the third highest total in GNAC history. She also set GNAC career records for most steals (158) and steals per game (2.93) in conference games.

In the classroom, the Seattle sociology major compiled a 3.70 grade point average earning Seattle University's Distinguished Graduate award. She was also a three-time GNAC academic all-conference selection.

She also made numerous contributions to her community off the court. Among the organizations in which she has contributed her time to have been the Rotary Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Elderly Care, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and the Coalition for Educational Equality. She also spent three to five hours per week during her collegiate career as a skills coach for children of military families.

GNAC NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees

2005-06	Jessica Telleria, Western Washington (Track and Field)
2006-07	Ana Gutierrez, Seattle University (Soccer)
        Mandy Kaempf, Alaska Anchorage (Ski, Cross Country and Track & Field)
2007-08	Courtney Schneider, Western Washington (Volleyball)
        Jackie Thomas, Seattle University (Basketball)

Note: Beginning in 2005-06, nominations for NCAA Woman of the Year were coordinated through conference offices. Prior to 2005-06, nominations were made individually by schools with one winner named from each state. --30-