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Heise, Young Named Minnesota's NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees
7/17/2023 12:53:00 PM | Women's Hockey, Women's Track & Field
MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota has nominated Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner Taylor Heise and four-time Big Ten champion Amira Young for the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
NCAA member schools nominated a record 619 female college athletes for the award, which began in 1991 and recognizes graduating athletes who excel in the four pillars of academics, athletics, service, and leadership. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2023.
Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. All nominees who compete in a sport that is not sponsored by their school's primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be sent to a separate pool to be considered by a committee.
The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee then identifies the Top 30 – 10 from Divisions I, II and III –and from there selects three finalists from each division that will be announced in November. From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then selects the NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named in January at the NCAA Convention in Phoenix.
Heise, a native of Lake City, Minn., has one of the more impressive resumes of anyone to don the Maroon and Gold. In 2023 Heise set the program record by skating in her 173rd career game while leading the Gophers to their first Frozen Four appearance since 2019. She recorded 67 points, including 30 goals scored and 37 assists in her final collegiate season. Her play earned her First Team All-American, All-USCHO First Team, All-WCHA First Team and WCHA All-Tournament Team honors. The 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award winner led the NCAA in goals scored last season on her way to earning WCHA Forward of the Year honors in her historic fifth-year season. On the international stage, Heise was named MVP and scored the second-most points ever in the IIHF Women's World Championships in the summer of 2022. In addition to her tremendous play on the ice Heise contributed to multiple efforts in the community, including helping deliver stuffed animals to children in Minneapolis at the Masonic Children's Hospital.
A native of Chicago, Ill., Young is one of the great track and field athletes in Minnesota history. She concluded her college career at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships as an eight-time All-American all with the Maroon and Gold. She earned three distinctions indoors and five of those outdoors. Young also holds the Big Ten Conference record in the 60m in a time of 7.18 seconds that she set at the 2023 Big Ten Indoor Championships where she won her third and fourth Big Ten titles. At Minnesota Young is the record holder in five different events between indoors and outdoors. She was the anchor leg on Minnesota's 4x100m relay team that went to the NCAA Championships in back-to-back seasons and won three straight Big Ten silver medals. This past year Young also made her debut on the US Senior level at the USATF Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., where she qualified in the 100m.
Off the track Young has participated in countless community service projects highlighted by her work with the Habitat for Humanity.
NCAA member schools nominated a record 619 female college athletes for the award, which began in 1991 and recognizes graduating athletes who excel in the four pillars of academics, athletics, service, and leadership. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2023.
Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. All nominees who compete in a sport that is not sponsored by their school's primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be sent to a separate pool to be considered by a committee.
The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee then identifies the Top 30 – 10 from Divisions I, II and III –and from there selects three finalists from each division that will be announced in November. From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then selects the NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named in January at the NCAA Convention in Phoenix.
Heise, a native of Lake City, Minn., has one of the more impressive resumes of anyone to don the Maroon and Gold. In 2023 Heise set the program record by skating in her 173rd career game while leading the Gophers to their first Frozen Four appearance since 2019. She recorded 67 points, including 30 goals scored and 37 assists in her final collegiate season. Her play earned her First Team All-American, All-USCHO First Team, All-WCHA First Team and WCHA All-Tournament Team honors. The 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award winner led the NCAA in goals scored last season on her way to earning WCHA Forward of the Year honors in her historic fifth-year season. On the international stage, Heise was named MVP and scored the second-most points ever in the IIHF Women's World Championships in the summer of 2022. In addition to her tremendous play on the ice Heise contributed to multiple efforts in the community, including helping deliver stuffed animals to children in Minneapolis at the Masonic Children's Hospital.
A native of Chicago, Ill., Young is one of the great track and field athletes in Minnesota history. She concluded her college career at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships as an eight-time All-American all with the Maroon and Gold. She earned three distinctions indoors and five of those outdoors. Young also holds the Big Ten Conference record in the 60m in a time of 7.18 seconds that she set at the 2023 Big Ten Indoor Championships where she won her third and fourth Big Ten titles. At Minnesota Young is the record holder in five different events between indoors and outdoors. She was the anchor leg on Minnesota's 4x100m relay team that went to the NCAA Championships in back-to-back seasons and won three straight Big Ten silver medals. This past year Young also made her debut on the US Senior level at the USATF Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., where she qualified in the 100m.
Off the track Young has participated in countless community service projects highlighted by her work with the Habitat for Humanity.
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