Lucy Van Dalen from the Stony Brook track and field team has been named America East Woman of the Year. The honor recognizes the conference’s senior female student-athlete who has best distinguished herself throughout her collegiate career in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence, service and leadership.
Van Dalen, a six-time All-American, was chosen by the America East’s Senior Woman Administrators from a pool of 12 women. To be nominated, student-athletes must have completed their eligibility in their primary sport by the end of the 2012 spring season, received their undergraduate degree prior to the conclusion of the 2012 summer term and had a minimum of a 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
A native of Wanganui, New Zealand, Van Dalen became Stony Brook’s first-ever national champion after winning the mile at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Most recently, she took fourth in the 1,500 in her final collegiate race at the Outdoor Championships.
She earned multiple Scholar-Athlete awards from the America East, and was inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society and Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Van Dalen graduated magna cum laude last spring with a 3.78 GPA and boasts a 4.0 GPA as she pursues a master’s in sociology.
Van Dalen is the first Stony Brook woman to earn such an honor and will now be forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee to be considered for the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year. The selection committee will select the top 10 winners in each NCAA division (I, II and III). From among those 30 honorees, 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 to determine the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year.
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