OHIO — The NCAA recognized two students in its Woman of the Year Top 30 list for 2022 at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio, which was the first time the organization held an event to celebrate the nominees.
One of them is Cedarville University graduate student Rachel Bredeson, who is a former cross country and track and field standout for the school.
She served as captain for both teams, was named the 2021-22 G-MAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, earned G-MAC Elite 25 Awards for indoor and outdoor track and field and also received the 2021 NCAA Elite 90 Award.
She also placed sixth nationwide in the steeplechase, which earned her the 2022 NCAA Division II All-America honors.
As for academics, Bredeson has a 4.0 GPA and is a pharmaceutical sciences major in the Doctor of Pharmacy program. She’s also the president of the Student National Pharmacist Association and chair of the Student College of Clinical Pharmacy Central Nervous System PRN, according to the university.
The other student-athlete recognized is Ivana Shah from the University of Akron. The golf star finished in fifth place at the 2021 MAC Women’s Golf Championship and then was named to the All-MAC tournament team.
She also helped lead the team to finish in third place in both 2021 and 2022.
In the 2020-21 season, she had a career-best stroke average of 75.47, according to the university.
She studies biomedical engineering with a concentration in biomaterials and tissues. Shah graduated summa cum laude, was a four-time Women’s Collegiate Golf Association All-American Scholar and was a student researcher in the biomedical engineering lab.
Her long list of academic achievements include being a finalist for the 2022 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award, induction into the Chi Alpha Sigma national honor society and she received the LPGA Foundation’s 2021 Dinah Shore Trophy, which recognizes academics, athletics, community service and leadership.
She also co-founded the group Call to Action to help connect volunteers for Akron nonprofits.
During her time in school, she also helped student-athletes connect with mental health resources while she was on Undergraduate Student Government and also became a certified Mental Health First Aider.
Officials select 577 school nominees and then narrow it down to 156 nominees at the conference level. The Top 30 is comprised of 10 student-athletes from all three NCAA divisions.
The 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year is Karenna Groff, who was an All-America soccer player and majored in biological engineering at MIT.
For the full list of the Woman of the Year Top 30, click here.
