Big South Announces 2022-23 Woman of the Year Co-Honorees
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – The Big South Conference announced today that Radford soccer player
Saleena Lynch (Suffolk, Va.) and High Point golfer
Sarah Kahn (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) have been named the Big South Conference’s co-honorees for Woman of the Year for 2022-23. The conference’s Woman of the Year award is sponsored by Big South Corporate Partner
Musco Sports Lighting.
The Big South’s Woman of the Year Selection Committee voted Lynch and Kahn the co-honorees among the seven candidates nominated for the award. The Committee used criteria of Service and Leadership (including community services, campus activities and leadership positions), Academic Achievement, Athletics Excellence and a Personal Statement from each candidate. As the Big South’s Woman of the Year, Lynch and Kahn are nominated as the conference’s candidates for the national NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Lynch was one of three recipients of the Big South’s Bob McCloskey Graduate Fellowship this past spring. She helped Radford capture the Big South Women’s Soccer Championship in 2022, as she played 18 matches with 17 starts, and totaled 1,357 minutes on the backline for the Highlanders. Lynch was a Second-Team All-Conference performer this past season, and was a Defensive Player of the Week selection. In her four years, she made 68 career appearances with 52 starts, tallied three assists from her defensive position while playing 4,533 career minutes, and was part of Radford’s Women’s Soccer Championship team as a freshman in 2019. Lynch will pursue her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of North Carolina. She graduated with a 3.96 GPA as a Criminal Justice and Psychology major.
Off the field, Lynch participated in eight academic conferences and presentations, including the Southeastern Psychological Association, Psychology & Gender Research Symposium, Student Engagement Forum, and the University of Missouri Alcohol Research Presentation. She was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, was awarded Academic Excellence Dean’s List honors all four years and was the recipient of the Wyatt Family Athletic Endowment. Lynch also served Radford as a Resident Assistant, Academic Tutor, and a College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences Elevated Research Mentor. She was Vice President of the Criminal Justice Club, participated in mental health and crisis training, and volunteered with the Special Olympics, Fear 2 Freedom Care Packaging and canned food drives.
Kahn won three times in 2022-23, including the Big South Championship where she posted a 1-over 217 (72-74-71) for a three-stroke victory as well as automatically qualify for the NCAA Regionals. She was the Big South leader in stroke average (73.24) as well as Top 10 finishes (six), as well as a three-time Big South Golfer of the Week honoree in 2022-23. Kahn carded six rounds in the 60s, including two of the four lowest rounds in the conference this past season, while her 7-under 209 at the Pirate Collegiate Classic was the second-lowest 54-hole total in the Big South this year. She won the Grandover Fall Classic in September, was victorious at the Kingsmill Intercollegiate in March -- in which she finished with a 3-under 213, and won both of her matches during the Match Play portion of the Big South Championship. A three-time All-Conference performer, Kahn was High Point’s first-ever Big South Golfer of the Year recipient this past season and the first Panther to finish in the top-10 at the NCAA Regionals with a sixth-place, two-under outing. She concluded her career with program records for stroke average (74.72), birdies (323) and wins (four).
In the classroom, Kahn graduated with a 3.86 GPA as a Psychology major, and earned her MBA during her fifth year. She was named to the Big South Women’s Golf All-Academic Team three times in her career, as well as a multiple Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar Team member. Kahn was also a six-time Dean’s List and Millis Scholar Athlete honoree during her time at HPU. Off the course, the Panthers’ co-captain participated in High Point’s SAAC, was a member of Psi Chi Psychology National Honor Society -- where she served as a peer mentor, and was involved in various community service programs.
Lynch and Kahn are among a record-breaking 619 overall nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year, which is now in its 33rd year. Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year program has recognized graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service, and leadership throughout their college careers. This year’s nominees represent a diverse set of well-rounded student-athletes, with 24 different sports across all three NCAA divisions. Within the nomination pool, 264 nominees competed in Division I, and the average GPA of the entire nominee pool is 3.76.
Also nominated for the Big South and NCAA Woman of the Year award were Campbell soccer player
Jessica Donald, Charleston Southern softball pitcher
Annah Junge, Presbyterian lacrosse player
Kendall Goldfarb, UNC Asheville tennis player
Ami Grace Dougah, and USC Upstate softball player
Tiffany Domingue.
The NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees -- 10 from each division -- from the conference-level nominees. The Top 30 honorees will be announced in October. The selection committee will then determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the nine finalists will be announced in November. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year. The honorees will be celebrated at the Woman of the Year Award Ceremony at the NCAA Convention in Phoenix in January. The Big South had its first national finalist in 2005 when Big South Hall of Famer
Janiva Willis of Winthrop was named one of the 10 finalists.