CWU Track and Field long-distance runner Alexa Shindruk has been nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year. She is the only representative of CWU this year. Each school in the NCAA can nominate up to two women, as long as at least one is a student-athlete of color or international descent. The nomination process includes each conference, across all of Division I, II and III, sending up to two women to represent them. After that, the Woman of the Year selection committee selects 10 women out of each division, then out of those 30 they narrow it down once more to the top three from each division, sending nine women to the NCAA Woman of the Year announcement. This year the announcement will be in Indianapolis on Oct. 20.

Shindruk has impressed many on and off the track. She is competing at the Division II National Outdoor Championships in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter run to close out her senior season. She also has a 4.0 GPA. Earlier this year, Shindruk broke the CWU school record in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 16:48.43. Recently, she finished second at the GNAC Outdoor Championships in the 5,000-meter run with an even better time of 16:47.08. Despite the good time, Shindruk used the second place finish as motivation heading into Nationals.

“It was a good confidence builder,” Shindruk said. “Being able to go out there and run my paces I needed to run gets me excited and looking forward to Nationals.”

Earlier this year, Shindruk received the Elite 90 Award, given out to only the top athletic and academic student-athletes in the NCAA. According to NCAA data, 49,556 women compete in Division II and 15 of them were awarded the Elite 90 Award.

Shindruk and head coach Kevin Adkisson sat down when she came to CWU as a freshman to set some goals for her career here at CWU. However, it wasn’t until the end of her sophomore year that Adkisson saw something special in Shindruk.

“We just missed nationals as a sophomore despite setting a school record in the 10,000-meter,” Adkisson said. “The next year she made it to nationals and coming into her senior year there’s just a few goals left to achieve at Nationals.”

The ability to balance athletics and academics, doing both at such high-levels, is a task some have a tough time achieving. For Shindruk, the motivation is there for both and her mindset is always on winning, whether it be on the track or in the classroom.

“I have a passion for running and I love to learn so I enjoy looking forward to that and I enjoy the challenge and face it with a positive attitude,” Shindruk said.

Coach Adkisson said that Shindruk is “someone who totally embodies the idea of a student-athlete” and has been nothing but impressed with Shindruk’s career at CWU. As she prepares for the next chapter of her life after college, Shindruk will miss the people that helped her get to where she’s at today.

“My team is probably the biggest thing,” Shindruk said. “Just all the fun times we had, and working together to accomplish our goals is something I will miss.”