Recent Ohio Wesleyan University graduate Sarah Shinn (Edinboro, PA/General McLane) has been named the 2010 North Coast Athletic Conference Pam Smith Award winner.

Shinn was a four-year member of the Battling Bishops’ indoor and outoor track & field teams, as well as a three-year member of the OWU cross country squad. A five-time individual conference champion, she was part of seven NCAC Championship teams and totaled 15 all-conference certificates in her career. Twice named team MVP, Shinn holds two school records and one conference record. The four-time All-Ohio champion’s best finish at the NCAA Championships was 10th in the 800 meters in 2010.

Shinn was presented OWU’s Top Female Athlete Award, and was a member of the Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honorary, as well as the Mortar Board national senior honor society. The summa cum laude graduate was named the top 2010 graduate in the business department, and was a three-time Top 50 Scholar Athlete award winner. The accounting major finished with a 3.96 grade-point average.

Her efforts on the track and in the classroom were matched by energy she spent in volunteer roles. She is active in Pasta for Life, which supports St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Ohio Wesleyan Athletic Council. She served as a tutor in economics, assisted in grading calculus assignments and worked in the accounts payable office at OWU, all on a volunteer basis.

She plans to attend Wake Forest University, in pursuit of a Master of Science in Accountancy.

Shinn was one of five outstanding nominees considered by the selection committee. The other candidates were:

• Stephanie Boardman, basketball, Wittenberg University
• Whitney Dropsey, softball, Hiram College
• Nora Erickson, soccer, Kenyon College
• Kymberly Wenz, basketball, The College of Wooster

The NCAC Woman of the Year Award commemorates former Wittenberg women’s basketball Head Coach and Associate Director of Athletics Pam 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, Shinn will also 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. Each NCAA conference, and independent institutions, can nominate one distinguished female student-athlete for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will meet in August to select the top 10 winners in each division. In September, the selection committee will then evaluate the 30 honorees and choose the top three in each division. Finally, the members of the CWA will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the Woman of the Year. The top 10 honorees and the nine finalists from Divisions I, II and III will be honored and the 2010 NCAA Woman of the Year winner announced at a dinner in Indianapolis October 17, 2010.