DePauw’s Annalise Grammel Collects 2024 Pam Smith Award

CLEVELAND, OH - Recent DePauw University graduate and women’s soccer and indoor and outdoor track and field student-athlete Annalise Grammel (Canal Winchester, OH/The Columbus Academy) has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference Pam Smith Award.

A four-year member of the DePauw women’s soccer and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams, Grammel leaves Greencastle with seven track and field conference titles. At the 2024 NCAC Outdoor Championship, she captured the 800-meter crown after previously earning the event title at both the 2023 and 2022 indoor conference championships. The multisport athlete, along with a trio of teammates, also collected the 2024 indoor 4x200 relay title and the 4x400 relay crown at the 2022 indoor and 2022 and 2021 outdoor championships. Grammel and her teammates currently hold three track and field relay school records: the 4x400 outdoor (3:57.30), 4x400 indoor (4:01.29) and 4x200 indoor (1:46.13). She was a two-year captain in track and field and a one-year captain in soccer, while earning eight indoor track and field, six outdoor track and field and three women’s soccer All-NCAC certificates throughout her career. Grammel is a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-Region Second Team selection (2022, 2023) and All-Great Lakes Region Indoor Track & Field honoree in the 4x400 (2022, 2021). The 2022 NCAC Midfielder of the Year was named to the NCAC 40th Anniversary Women's Soccer All-Decade Team in the fall of 2023.

Grammel, a Biochemistry major and Management Fellow (business program), graduated summa cum laude from DePauw with a 3.83 grade point average. She was inducted into the Chi Alpha Sigma national scholar-athlete honor society and was a 2024 Walker Cup Finalist, which is presented annually to a student of the senior class who shall be determined to have done the most for DePauw during their college career. Grammel was selected as a recipient of the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was named to the DePauw Dean's List, Tiger Pride Honor Roll, NCAC Academic Honor Roll and the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team (track & field 2024, 2022; women’s soccer 2023, 2022). Most recently, she was selected DePauw’s 2024 Amy Hasbrook Award recipient, which recognizes a senior student-athlete from a women's sport who best exemplifies effort and excellence in academics, athletics, leadership, integrity, dedication to the team, campus involvement, and community service.
 
Aside from success in competition and in the classroom, Grammel has volunteered with Honor Flight Columbus since 2017 and initiated the Honor Flight Columbus 5k, which raised a total of $42,000 and sponsored sending over 82 veterans to D.C. From 2022-24 she volunteered with Best Buddies, serving as Co-President in 2023-24, and volunteered as a dental assistant with the Columbus Public Health Free Dental Clinic. Grammel worked as a DePauw Admissions Intern from 2021-24 and was a DePauw Presidential Ambassador during the 2023-24 academic year. She was a four-year member of the DePauw Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, while holding the position of Vice President of Finance (2022-23), Vice President of Administration (2021-22) and as a member of the Development Committee (2020-21). As a member of the Future Medical Professionals, she served as the Vice President of Finance during the 2022-23 academic year.

Grammel was one of five outstanding nominees considered by the selection committee. The other candidates included:
Katie Griffin, Women’s Golf, Denison University
Sydney McCallie, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Kenyon College
Kasey Schipfer, Women’s Basketball, Ohio Wesleyan University
Athena Tharenos, Women’s Cross Country and Indoor & Outdoor Track & Field, College of Wooster
 
The NCAC Woman of the Year Award commemorates former Wittenberg women’s basketball Head Coach and Associate Director of Athletics Pam Evans Smith, who had a profound impact upon the athletes she coached and the students she taught over an illustrious career that spanned more than two decades. She was the architect of the women’s basketball program with the most wins and highest winning percentage in NCAC history through 2007. A 1999 Wittenberg Athletics Hall of Honor inductee, Smith earned seven NCAC Coach of the Year awards and compiled a 401-170 record after taking the reins of a struggling program prior to the 1986-87 season. She led the Tigers to eight NCAA Division III tournament appearances, twelve 20-win seasons, and 11 NCAC regular-season championships. 
 
As the NCAC winner, Grammel will be nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, one of the most prestigious honors the NCAA bestows. The award recognizes senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service, and leadership. The Woman of the Year Selection Committee will name the Top 30 honorees, which include 10 women from each division. From the 30 honorees, the committee will then select and announce nine finalists, three from each NCAA division. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will review the finalists and name the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year. Later this fall, the national Top 30 honorees and nine finalists will be announced. The 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the 2025 NCAA Convention in Nashville. She will also be the NCAC nominee for the Division III Commissioners Association Student Athlete of the Year.
 
NCAC Pam Smith Award Winners
2024 - Annalise Grammel, DePauw
2023 - Veronica Hardman, Ohio Wesleyan
2022 - Emmie Mirus, Kenyon
2021 - Megan Wong, Denison
2020 - Sydney Kopp, DePauw
2019 - Hannah Orbach-Mandel, Kenyon
2018 - Julia Wilson, Kenyon
2017 - Ellie Crawford, Kenyon
2016 - Haley Townsend, Kenyon
2015 - Maggie MacPhail, DePauw
2014 - Paige Gooch, DePauw
2013 - Leah Sack, Kenyon
2012 - Alisa Vereshchagin, Kenyon
2011 - Katie Navarre, Denison
2010 - Sarah Shinn, Ohio Wesleyan
2009 - Tracy Menzel, Kenyon
2008 - Erin Gorsich, Denison

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