Wiatr Named Empire 8 Woman of the Year
UTICA, NY- Senior
Sarah Wiatr (Poland, NY/West Canada Valley) of the Utica College track and field team was named the Empire 8 Conference Woman of the Year, announced Tuesday. This award honors a senior female student-athlete who has distinguished herself throughout her collegiate career in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.
This marks the 26th year of the Woman of the Year Award program, which was established in 1991. A record of 515 honorees from Division I, II, and III are up for this year's award, including 127 multisport student-athletes. Wiatr is one of 169 student-athletes selected from Division III.
Wiatr, who was also named the 2015-16 Empire 8 Female Senior Scholar-Athlete Award winner, is the second consecutive student-athlete from Utica chosen as the Conference's Woman of the Year, as two-time All-American Hannah Mackey earned the distinction in 2015.
Wiatr is a five-time NCAA qualifier (three-time indoor and two-time outdoor) and a two-time All-American in the triple jump. At the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships she had a fourth place finish in the triple jump and at the 2015 Outdoor Championships she placed seventh. She is the first female in Utica track and field program history to earn All-American status and during the 2016 indoor season was named a U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region selection. Wiatr currently holds the indoor and outdoor school records for the triple jump and she recently broke the school-record in the outdoor long jump.
In the classroom, Wiatr carried a grade-point average of 3.72 in Health Studies with a focus on Occupational Therapy and a minor in Aging Studies/Gerontology. She has been named to the Empire 8 President's List four times and has been named a three-time All-Academic by Division III USTFCCCA.
Wiatr will now be forwarded to the national NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee. The committee will choose the top ten nominees in each division (I, II and III). From among those 30 honorees, the selection committee will determine the top three in each division. From those nine, the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year will be chosen.