Nathalie Gruet ‘15 Selected as NEWMAC Honoree for NCAA Woman of the Year Award
WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College field hockey's Nathalie Gruet '15 (Acton, Mass.) has been selected as a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) nominee for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Now in its 25th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year Award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. All conference nominees are forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee, which chooses the top 30 honorees – 10 from each division.
The NCAA will announce the Top 30 honorees on NCAA.org in early September. From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three nominees from each division and announces the top nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year. The 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced, and the Top 30 honorees celebrated, at the annual award ceremony Oct. 18 in Indianapolis.
A two-time All-American, Gruet was the recipient of both the 2015 Wellesley College Barbara Barnes Hauptfuhrer Scholar Athlete Award and the Outstanding Senior Athlete Award. The Hauptfuhrer Scholar Athlete award honors a Wellesley senior who combines excellence in scholarship, leadership, sportsmanship, and athletic achievement. She amassed 63 goals and 21 assists for the Blue, scoring 18 game-winning goals in 83 career games, while earning NEWMAC and Regional Player of the Year honors in both 2013 and 2014.
Gruet guided Wellesley to back-to-back NEWMAC Championships and appearances in the NCAA Championship Quarterfinals in 2013 and 2014. The 2011 NEWMAC Rookie of the Year, she was also an All-Region and All-Conference selection for four consecutive years, including three consecutive years on the All-Region first team.
An Economics and Political Science Double Major and a Madeline Korbel Albright Fellow, she has already applied her learning in the classroom to an internship with the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs. She has also participated in a summer language French immersion program, and worked as a research assistant at MIT.
Gruet is one of 147 female student-athletes named 2015 Woman of the Year honorees by conferences and independent schools. NCAA member schools nominated 480 women for the national award, the most in the program's 25-year history. For more information, visit NCAA.org.