NCAA Release

INDIANAPOLIS- Conference offices have named 151 college athletes as their nominees for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award. The NSIC selected Concordia-St. Paul's Jena Berkland and the University of Mary's D'Andra Morris to represent the league. 

The nominees represent student-athletes from 17 sports spanning all three NCAA divisions. Of those nominated, 53 nominees competed in Division I, 39 in Division II and 59 in Division III. Conference offices can recognize two nominees if at least one is a woman of color or international student-athlete.

From the total pool of 577 nominees submitted by NCAA member schools, 547 were sent to conferences to select their nominees for consideration for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. The remaining 30 nominees (PDF) compete in a sport that is not sponsored by their school's primary conference or compete for an independent school. The nonconference/independent nominees are being reviewed by a committee, and on Aug. 4, five will be named to move forward in the process to complete the conference-level pool of 156 nominees.

The Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose 10 nominees from each division to make up the national Top 30 honorees. The Top 30 honorees will be announced in October. From there, the selection committee will narrow the pool to three finalists from each division. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2022 Woman of the Year from the nine finalists.

At January's NCAA Convention in San Antonio, the national Top 30 honorees will be celebrated, and the NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced.

The NCAA Woman of the Year program is rooted in Title IX and has recognized graduating female college athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership since its inception in 1991. For more information about the program and previous winners, please visit ncaa.org/woty.

Jena Berkland - Concordia University, St. Paul - Soccer
Berkland, a native of Crystal Lake, Illinois, is a junior majoring in exercise science at Concordia University, St. Paul. The Prairie Ridge High School graduate holds a 4.00 grade point average while excelling in soccer for the Golden Bears. Berkland is a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Award winner; a NSIC Myles Brand Award winner and a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District® First Team selection. She is a two-time NSIC Elite 18 Award winner and has earned NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence honors three times.  
On the pitch, Berkland is a 2021 D2CCA All-Central Region Second Team selection and a 2021 All-NSIC Second Team member. She played in 61 career matches, scoring 12 goals with six assists. She ranked fourth on the team with five goals, two assists, and 12 points in 2021 and is tied for eighth in CSP history with five career game-winning goals. 

D'Andra Morris - University of Mary - Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field
Morris won the triple jump title at both the 2022 NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor championships. Her winning mark of 13.00 meters at the indoor championships was the 10^th best effort all-time in NCAA Division II. The senior from Kingston, Jamaica, was the first UMary scholar-athlete to win an NCAA championship in a field event. Additionally she placed in the long jump at both the indoor and outdoor national meet.  Selected as the 2022 USTFCCCA Indoor and Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year and the 2022 Northern Sun Indoor and Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year, Morris is an 8-time All-American and a 10-time NSIC champion in her Marauders career. Morris was also announced as UMary's first two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America member.

About the NSIC
The NSIC is a 16-team, 18-sport, NCAA Division II conference with institutions located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The NSIC is a model Division II conference that uses high-level athletics competition to develop champions in the classroom and community while empowering student-athletes to be impactful and positive leaders. Formed in 1992 by the merger of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (men’s league) and the Northern Sun Conference (women’s league), the NSIC has flourished over the past quarter century, maturing into a 16-team union of Upper Midwest colleges and universities. The NSIC has won 25 team national championships and crowned 90 individual national champions. For additional information, visit NorthernSun.org.

About NCAA Division II
The NCAA, the national governing body for college athletics, is a volunteer association of more than 1,000 colleges and universities that classify their athletics programs in one of three membership divisions. The 300+ institutions in NCAA Division II support a balanced approach in which student-athletes can earn scholarships based on their athletic ability, pursue their desired academic degree, and participate in all the campus and surrounding community have to offer. Division II student-athletes annually graduate at rates higher than their student body peers, and they have access to the best championships-participant ratio among the NCAA’s three divisions. Division II gives student-athletes the unique opportunity to compete in the classroom, on the field, in their career, for their causes, and on their terms. For additional information, visit NCAA.org.