MIAC Picks Herrmann For NCAA Honor
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (7/26/21)---Concordia cross country and track and field student-athlete Josie Herrmann (New Prague, Minn.) was selected as one of two nominees from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) to serve as the conference's choices for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Herrmann joins Bethel tennis standout Maggie Riermann as the MIAC representatives for the prestigious honor. The NCAA will take the representatives from each conference and choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division. The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the nine finalists will be announced this fall. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year later this fall.
Herrmann becomes only the second Concordia student-athlete to be chosen as the conference's nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Former All-American Angie Pfeiffer was the very first MIAC representative to receive the honor back in 2006. Pfeiffer went on to be one of the nine national finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Herrmann finished her Cobber career earlier this spring by qualifying for the NCAA Championship Meet in both the 800 and 1500-meter races – and finished in the Top 15 in both races. Herrmann won both races at the MIAC Championship Meet in 2021. She was also the two-time defending conference champion in the indoor 1000-meter run, taking home the MIAC title in both 2019 and 2020. Herrmann also received All-America distinction in the 800-meter run after qualifying for indoor nationals in 2020.
Herrmann holds the school record in indoor 600 and 1000 meters. She is also second on the school's all-time list in the 800 meters and third in the 1500 meters.
A member of the Dean's List all four years of her Concordia tenure, Herrmann graduated Magna Cum Laude with a double major in biology and Spanish and a minor in chemistry. She was a three-time Academic All-MIAC honoree and a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic selection. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Herrmann also worked as a certified nursing assistant in both a long-term care facility and a hospital. She has also volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and participated in paleontology research at Concordia.
"I am proud of my accomplishments on the track and on the course, from conference championships to national qualifications," Herrmann said. "However, I am most proud of and grateful for my growth as a leader and team member in athletics, in the classroom, on campus, and in the community."
The NCAA Woman of the Year was established in 1991 to honor graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service, and leadership throughout their collegiate careers. The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award. This year's nominees competed in 24 different women's sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 251 nominees from Division I, 107 from Division II, and 177 from Division III. Multisport student-athletes accounted for 141 of the nominees.
Herrmann and Riermann were among nine student-athletes nominated by MIAC institutions this year. Other institutional nominees included Augsburg's Jada Lewis (track and field), Hamline's Megan Rubbelke (volleyball, softball), Macalester's Kayla Togneri (soccer, basketball), Saint Benedict's Hunter Weiss (volleyball), St. Catherine's Sydney Grohman (swimming and diving), St. Olaf's Julie Graf (softball), and St. Thomas' Kate Heimer (soccer).