Aggie senior Jennifer Madu a nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year award
Jun 21, 2016 | Track and Field
Texas A&M track and field athlete Jennifer Madu has been named a nominee for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year award, which honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
This season Madu, of Murphy, Texas, who attended Plano East HS, was selected as Texas A&M's female nominee for the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Postgraduate Scholarship. During her Aggie career she was a member of the 2013 SEC Outdoor championship team as well as the 2014 NCAA Outdoor national championship team.
Madu recently competed in the NCAA Outdoor Championships, earning another pair of All-America honors to bring her career total to eight first-team All-America honors. Madu ran the first leg of the Texas A&M 4x100 relay that finished fourth and placed eighth in the 100m. Madu became the first Aggie, male or female, to advance to the final of the 100m four consecutive years.
In the 4x100 relay, Madu was a member of the national championship crew in 2014 and a NCAA runner-up effort in 2015. Prior to posting a wind-aided 11.27 in the NCAA 100m final this season, Madu previously had set a PR each year she raced in the NCAA final. As a freshman in 2013 she clocked 11.31 to place fifth, then posted an 11.23 for sixth place in 2014. Last season she set her career best of 11.16 for eighth place.
On the conference level Madu ran on three SEC champion 4x100 relays from 2013 to 2015, including the unit that set the conference meet record in 2015. She also earned 2013 SEC Freshman Runner of the Year honors. Madu has produced marks that rank among the Texas A&M all-time top 10 lists six events. They include the 60m and long jump indoors as well as the 100m, long jump, triple jump and 4x100 outdoors.
Majoring in Kinesiology with a minor in Psychology, Madu earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors each season. She was also named to the SEC All-Academic honor roll four consecutive years as well as the Texas A&M AD honor roll. Madu was a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee from 2012 to 2016 and community service projects she was part of included the Aggie Athletes Involved, Aggies CAN and Twin City Missions.
This year's pool of school honorees marks the largest in the 26-year history of the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Of the nominees for the national award, 231 competed in Division I, 117 competed in Division II and 169 competed in Division III athletics. The nominees also represent 21 different women's sports, and 127 of the nominees competed in more than one sport in college.
Next, conferences assess their member school nominees and select up to two conference nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the top 30 honorees - 10 from each division.
From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 16 in Indianapolis.
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