Justine Huang '19 is Wellesley's nominee for NCAA Women of the Year (Brian Foley).
Justine Huang '19 is Wellesley's nominee for NCAA Women of the Year (Brian Foley).

Justine Huang '19 Named Wellesley's Nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Justine Huang '19, a 2019 graduate and tennis student-athlete with a degree in Economics, has been selected as the Wellesley College nominee for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. 

For 29 years, the NCAA Woman of the Year Program has honored the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of outstanding female college athletes. Rooted in Title IX and directed by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics, the program celebrates the accomplishments of female college athletes across all three NCAA divisions. In 2019, more than 200,000 women are playing college sports, and the NCAA received a program record of 585 nominations for this prestigious award. 

Huang was this year's recipient of the Barbara Barnes Hauptfuhrer '49 Senior Scholar-Athlete Award, given annually to that Wellesley College senior who best combines excellence in scholarship, leadership, sportsmanship and athletic achievement. Each year, Wellesley's Hauptfuhrer Award winner is the institutional nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year. 

As a tennis student-athlete, Huang was a four-time New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) All-Conference award winner, NEWMAC Academic All-Conference honoree and an ITA Scholar-Athlete. She amassed over 100 career wins as a two-year captain, while helping to lead the Blue to four consecutive NEWMAC postseasons, three semifinal appearances and conference runner-up honors in 2017. Huang helped lead the Blue to a 2019 Seven Sisters Team Championship and ranked as high at No. 8 in the region in doubles during the 2018 season. 

Off the court, Huang volunteered her time with the Wellesley College Chemistry Department conducting research and experiments while also volunteering with the College Spanish Department. She also participated in a weekly advanced performance seminar on the piano while volunteering as Copy and News in Brief Editor of The Wellesley News, as well as being a member of the Wellesley Environment and Energy Defense group where she held the position of Secretary.

Next, conference offices will select their conference nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year. Each conference nominee will be notified by the NCAA, and all conference-round nominees will be announced on ncaa.org in early August. A total of eight women have been nominated by their institutions to represent the NEWMAC as its NCAA Woman of the Year nominee. The conference Athletic Directors select the NEWMAC representatives which will be announced in late July. 

Conference nominations are forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee, which identifies the top 10 honorees in each of the three NCAA divisions. From those 30 candidates, the selection committee then determines the three finalists in each division for a total of nine finalists. The Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year from the nine finalists. The 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced Sunday, Oct. 20, at an awards dinner in Indianapolis.


Wellesley Athletics strives for excellence at the conference, regional, and national levels, while providing opportunities for students to achieve their potential and learn the values of discipline, leadership, critical thinking, and responsibility to oneself and others.