PHILADELPHIA – The NCAA's Woman of the Year Selection Committee has announced the nine finalists for the prestigious 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year Award—three each in Division I, Division II, and Division III—and recently graduated University of Pennsylvania track star Isabella Whittaker is a member of that elite group.
 
Read the NCAA release here!

Selected from a record-breaking 627 nominees submitted by member schools, that pool of student-athletes was narrowed to the national Top 30 honorees and then to the nine finalists. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year at the NCAA Convention in January in Nashville, Tennessee, the NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced, and the Top 30 will be honored.
 
Whittaker is the first Penn student-athlete in history to be named a finalist for what is considered one of the NCAA's most prestigious awards. She also is the ninth Ivy League student-athlete to be named a finalist, the fourth this century and the second in as many years. (Harvard field hockey player Ellie Shahbo was a finalist in 2023.) The NCAA Woman of the Year program is rooted in Title IX and has recognized graduating female college athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership since its inception in 1991.
 
"Bella is one of the most accomplished track & field athletes in University of Pennsylvania history." said Steve Dolan, the James P. Tuppeny/Betty J. Costanza Director of Track & Field/Cross Country. "In addition to her outstanding athletic achievements, she was an amazing leader on our team and the campus at large. She guided the Young Quakers track & field team and held multiple leadership positions with different student groups across campus. Bella represented everything great about being a Penn student-athlete, and I could not be prouder knowing that she is being recognized for this prestigious honor by the NCAA. She is certainly worthy of the recognition."
 
"We are so proud of Bella for being selected as a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year," said Alanna Wren, the T. Gibbs Kane, Jr. W'69 Director of Athletics and Recreation at Penn. "Bella distinguished herself through academics, athletics, service and leadership during her time at Penn and we are thrilled that the NCAA has recognized her in this way. As an Olympian, an All-American, and a leader on campus throughout her career, Bella represented all that is good in college athletics. She is a wonderful representative of the unrivaled academic and athletic experience that Penn and the Ivy League offer."

The 2023-24 co-recipient of the University's prestigious Association of Alumnae Fathers' Trophy, Whittaker was a first-team All-America on the track when she finished fifth in the 400 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring. Following that, she qualified for the United States Olympic Team when she took sixth overall in the 400 at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Whittaker was the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year following the outdoor season last spring, and before that she shared Track Athlete of the Meet honors with teammate Fore Abinusawa at the 2024 Indoor Heptagonal Championships. Whittaker won three individual Heps titles last year, the indoor and outdoor 400 and the outdoor 200, and ran on Penn's winning 4x100 outdoor relay in helping the Quakers take the team title at both meets. She graduated with four individual program records—the indoor and outdoor 400, the indoor 500, and the outdoor 200—and holds the Ivy League mark in the indoor and outdoor 400, in both cases breaking records that had stood since 1990. Whittaker also was part of four program-record and three Ivy-record relay teams at Penn.

A graduate of the University's College of Arts and Sciences who earned her degree in communication, Akins was a multi-time USTFCCCA All-Academic selection during her time at Penn and voted second-team Academic All-America by College Sports Communicators (CSC) as a senior.

Whittaker has not completed her athletic eligibility and will compete as a grad transfer at the University of Arkansas this winter and spring.
 
The other Division representatives are Riley Felts (Charlotte) and Caitlin Lyons (Georgia). The Division II representatives are Anna Grossheim (UNC Pembroke), Samantha Pirosko (Gannon) and Shelby Robb (Metro State) while the Division III representatives are Hannah Kassaie (Case Western Reserve), Maddy Miles (Mount Union) and Alexandra Turvey (Pomona-Pitzer).