CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Winthrop tennis player Megan Kauffman (Perth, Australia) and Radford women's soccer player Jessica Wollmann (Blacksburg, Va.) have been named the Big South Conference's co-honorees for Woman of the Year for 2018-19, the league office announced Thursday. The conference's Woman of the Year award is sponsored by Big South Corporate Partner Musco Sports Lighting. A Winthrop student-athlete has won the award for three-consecutive years.
 
The Big South's Woman of the Year Selection Committee voted Kauffman and Wollmann the co-honorees among the nine candidates nominated for the award. The Committee used criteria of Service and Leadership (including community services, campus activities and leadership positions), Academic Achievement, Athletics Excellence and a Personal Statement from each candidate. As the Big South's Woman of the Year, Kauffman and Wollmann are nominated as the conference's candidates for the national NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
 
With a degree in exercise science, Kauffman graduated from Winthrop magna cum laude with a GPA of 3.88 and will begin her pursuit of a master's degree in applied physiology and kinesiology with a concentration in human performance at the University of Florida this fall. During her senior campaign, she played No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles on a Winthrop squad which finished the regular season with a perfect 9-0 Big South record and won its 21st Big South Conference Championship title. Paired with teammate Lauren Proctor, the Eagle tandem went 21-11 overall in 2018-19, with a 16-7 dual match record and an 8-1 record in the Big South Conference at the No. 1 position. The duo also earned a berth into the NCAA Division I Doubles Championship in Orlando, Fla. and closed the year ranked No. 48 nationally.
 

Off the court, Kauffman was involved in Winthrop's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) where she served as the social media chair. In addition, she was enrolled in Winthrop's peer mentor program, logged hours as a tutor and also spent 12 weeks with Charlotte Country Day School as a strength and conditioning intern. She spent time as a volunteer during the 2019 Fort Mill YMCA Polar Plunge, which helped raise funds for Special Olympics South Carolina. She also spent time with the Richmond Elementary Tiger Trot, which targeted health and physical activity in children and the promotion of exercise. Kauffman received the NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women's Enhancement Graduate Scholarship for her postgraduate studies and attended the NCAA's Career in Sports Forum in June. She also received academic recognition on the Big South Presidential Honor Roll, ITA Scholar-Athletes and Winthrop's President's List and Dean's List.
 
A member of a Radford team that claimed the 2018 Big South regular season and tournament championships, Wollmann started all 20 matches for the Highlanders her senior season as she scored eight goals and handed out four assists to tie for second on the team with 20 points. She knocked in four game-winning goals and ranked third in the Big South in shots with 72 on the year.  For her efforts, the forward was named First-Team All-Conference as well as the Big South's 2018-19 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
 
Away from the pitch, Wollmann majored in anthropological sciences with minors in biology and German and earned a 4.00 GPA. She was one of 10 student-athletes awarded the Big South Christenberry Award in May and also earned CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-America honors. She was also named the 2019 Virginia Collegiate Honors Council (VCHC) Scholar of the Year, which is presented to a student from a member institution that successfully embodies the scholarship, character, and ambition associated historically with honors students and VCHC.  Named a Senior CLASS Award Top 10 Finalist, she was also awarded the Radford Artis College of Science and Technology Outstanding Student Award at the end of her senior year. Wollmann's volunteer activities included the Blacksburg Girls Soccer Program, Martin Luther King Day of Service, the Montgomery County Special Olympics, and Fear 2 Freedom -- student-made kits for when sexual assault survivors are released from the hospital.  Wollmann was also involved in the Radford University community with the Center of Accessibility Services, Student Government, the Anthropology Club and the Board of Visitors.
 
Also nominated for the Big South and NCAA Woman of the Year award were Campbell golfer Anna Svanka and lacrosse player Melissa Placek, High Point volleyball player Molly Livingston, Presbyterian softball player Jonnie Petree, UNC Asheville basketball player Tiffany Wilson, USC Upstate softball player Brittany Case and tennis player Valeria Zarama Duque, and Winthrop softball player Blake Wallert.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee will determine the top 10 honorees in each division by considering specific guidelines based on the four pillars of the award: academics, athletics, service and leadership.  From among those 30 candidates, the selection committee will determine the top three in each division.  Finally, the members of the Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.
 
Kauffman and Wollmann are among over 500 overall nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year, which is now in its 29th year.  All school and conference honorees receive an NCAA certificate and will be recognized on www.ncaa.org.  The top 10 honorees from Divisions I, II and III, including the nine overall finalists, will be honored, with the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year winner announced at a dinner Oct. 20, 2019 in Indianapolis.  The Big South had its first national finalist in 2005 when Big South Hall of Famer Janiva Willis of Winthrop was named one of the 10 finalists. 

Most recently, Katherine Judge, of Winthrop lacrosse won the Big South Woman of the Year honor for the 2017-18 season and another Winthrop tennis representative, Caitlin Cridland, won the award for 2016-17.