Kenyon's Vereshchagin Selected As Top 30 Honoree For The 2012 NCAA Woman Of The Year Award

Recent Kenyon College graduate Alisa Vereshchagin (Solon, OH/Solon) has been recognized by the NCAA as one of the Top 30 honorees for the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

From the Top 30 honorees (10 from each division), nine finalist will be named by the NCAA's Committee on Women's Athletics in early September, leading to the announcement of the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year recipient at the NCAA Woman of the Year awards dinner to be held on Sunday, October 14th, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Vereshchagin, who was a four-year member of the Ladies' swimming & diving team, served as the team captain of the swimming & diving team in her senior campaign. A six-time North Coast Athletic Conference champion, and 19-time All-American performer, she was named the 2012 NCAC Swimmer of the Year after touching first in four events, including the 200 IM, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and the 400 medley relay at this winter's conference meet. Vereshchagin, who helped the Ladies capture the 2009 NCAA Championship, is also a two-time individual NCAA Champion, winning the 200 breast in 2009 and capturing the 100 breast in 2012. In addition, Vereshchagin was a two-time Capital One Academic All-American selection, earning first-team laurels as a senior and third-team honors as a junior. She was also recognized by her peers as the 2012 Kenyon College Female Athlete of the Year.

In the classroom, she posted a 3.79 grade-point-average as a double major in modern languages and literature. Vereshchagin, who was awarded one of the 2012 NCAA post-graduate scholarships, was a four-year recipient of the Kenyon Distinguished Academic Scholarship and was also a four-year member of Kenyon's Merit List. As a Russian immigrant to the United States, she concentrated a portion of her academic career on the Russian language. For her studies, she earned the Kenyon Russian Prize in 2011 and was named the Critical Language Scholar in Russian by the U.S. Department of State and American Councils for International Education which granted her a fully-funded scholarship for study in Vladmir, Russia, in 2011.

In addition to her many athletic and academic accomplishments, Vereshchagin also devoted a great deal of her time to community service, contributing to the Humane Society of Knox County, the Special Olympics and the Girls and Women in Sports Day at Kenyon. In addition, she served as an apprentice teacher of both Russian and Spanish languages at Kenyon and devoted another portion of her free time to tutoring 3rd-and 4th-grade students in reading, writing, spelling and typing.

Vereshchagin will attend the University of Oregon in the Fall to begin work towards a PhD in Comparative Literature.

The NCAA Woman of the Year Award, now in its 22nd year, honors female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academic achievement, athletic excellence, community service and leadership. Laura Barito, a mechanical engineering graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology and a 22-time All-American in swimming and track, was the 2011 award recipient.

Every NCAA member institution is encouraged to honor its top graduating female student-athlete by submitting her name for consideration.  Each conference assesses the eligibility of its members’ nominees and selects at least one student-athlete to represent the conference.   To be eligible for the award, a female student-athlete must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end of the 2012 spring season, graduated no later than the end of the summer 2012 term and achieved a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.5.