Now in it's 28th- season, the NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport, must have completed eligibility in her primary sport, and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2018.
Ewen, a recent ASU graduate with a degree in health and wellness, was chosen by a vote of Sun Devil athletic administrators and is one of 581 nominees for the prestigious award.
Ewen's stellar senior season in Tempe included three NCAA titles, two collegiate records, five conference titles, Pac-12 and MPSF Athlete of the Meet honors and a second-straight National Women's Field Athlete of the Year honor.
She recently wrapped up her historic ASU career in dramatic fashion when she won the NCAA discus title on her final throw of the competition and her final throw donning the maroon and gold.
Two days prior to her first-ever discus championship, Ewen won the outdoor shot put title to complete the season sweep of the event, as she had taken first place indoors back in March. Her two titles made her the only woman in collegiate history with career titles in the hammer throw (2017), discus and shot put. It was just the sixth time in championship history that a woman won both the shot and discus at the same NCAA Championship.
Adding to her history since the NCAA Track & Field Championships, Ewen became just the second female in track and field history to complete the NCAA/USATF shot put double, as she captured the shot put victory at the USA Track & Field Championships on June 24 -- two weeks after capturing the NCAA shot put title.
Her 20 points scored at the NCAA Championships were the most by any single woman in the competition and earned Ewen her second-straight, high-point honor as last season she put up 21 in three events.
Ewen came into 2018 with the collegiate record in the women's hammer throw, but bested her old record three times in the same series at the 39th Sun Angel Classic in April. She would finish 2018 having put up five of the eight best hammer throw marks in NCAA history, including four of the top-five and the record of 74.53m/244-6 feet.
In the shot put, Ewen had an even more impressive season, winning both NCAA titles, becoming one of four women to ever top 19 meters indoors, and setting the collegiate record outdoors.
Her throw of 19.46m/63-10.25 feet at the Desert Heat Classic in April broke the 2-year-old record by five inches. Although she came into the season without a mark in the all-time top-10 list, Ewen recorded an astounding seven of the 10 farthest throws in collegiate history in 2018 alone, including her title-winning heave at the NCAA Championships that was the second-farthest in championship history.
With her second-straight sweep of the hammer throw, discus throw and shot put at the Pac-12 Championships, Ewen became one of the most decorated females in conference history, tying a Pac-12 record with seven career individual titles. She ended her MPSF career with five titles and her first sweep of the shot put and weight throw.
Ewen's name is at the top of the ASU record books in the indoor and outdoor shot put, hammer throw and weight throw, and she is second in the discus only to Leslie Deniz' mark that is third in NCAA history.
After being nominated by a school, each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. All nominees that compete in a sport that is not sponsored by their core conference, associate conference nominees and independent nominees will be sent to a separate pool to be considered by a committee. Then, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee identifies the Top 30 – 10 from each division – and from there selects three finalists from each division. The Committee on Women's Athletics then selects the winner from the nine finalists.
All 30 Woman of the Year honorees will be recognized, and the 2018 Woman of the Year announced, at an awards dinner at the Westin Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. Fans wishing to learn more about the NCAA Woman of the Year program, and nomination process, can find information here.