DENVER - Hawai?i volleyball player Kanoe Kamana?o and Utah State track and field athlete Jennie Twitchell have been selected by conference senior woman administrators to represent the WAC for the 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year award. The award acknowledges senior female student-athletes’ distinguished achievements in areas of service, leadership, athletics and academics. The 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced October 27.
Kamana?o, a senior setter from Honolulu, O?ahu, is a two-time first team All-America honoree, leading the Rainbow Wahine to four WAC championships. Kamana?o is just the 15th four-time All-America winner in AVCA history. Kamana?o’s decorated career at Hawai?i began with her earning AVCA National Freshman of the Year, AVCA West Region Freshman of the Year and AVCA WAC Freshman of the Year honors. She was WAC Player of the Year for three-straight seasons and won the Joe Kearney Best Female Athlete award in 2005 and 2006. Leading Hawai?i and the WAC in career assists (6,428) and assists per game, Kamana?o ranks seventh in NCAA history in assists, and eighth in assists per game. She led the Rainbow Wahine as floor captain in 2004 and team captain in 2005 and 2006, and was also a member of the U.S. Women’s Volleyball team in 2005.
Off the court, Kamana?o excelled in the classroom as a four-year Hawai?i Scholar Athlete and four-year member of the Academic All-WAC team. She was also awarded COSIDA Academic All-District honors for three straight years. Kamana?o applied her athletic and academic leadership skills in the community by volunteering with the Police Activities League Clinic, helping with the D.A.R.E. program, reading to local children and assisting with the National Women in Sports Day.
Twitchell, a three-sport student-athlete from Sandy, Utah, earned first team All-America honors by placing fifth in the nation in the women’s mile at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship. The senior captured two gold medals at the 2007 WAC Indoor Track and Field Championship, winning the women’s indoor mile and anchoring the women’s distance medley relay championship team. Twitchell also qualified for the 2007 NCAA Regionals in both the 1500-meter run and 800-meter run. She won the women’s 1,500m run at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Regional, and went on to earn second and third team All-America honors in the event. In cross country, Twitchell captured first team All-WAC honors with a fourth-place finish at the 2006 WAC Cross Country Championship, leading the Aggies to a conference title. She holds school records in both the indoor mile and outdoor 1500m run, and was honored as the Utah State Female Athlete of the Year.
Twitchell balanced her success in athletics by dividing her time in the classroom and the community. She earned Academic All-America honors and Academic All-WAC honors while volunteering at a local elementary school and leading youth groups in classes and athletics at her church. She also helped coach children in soccer and track, as well as assisted with an annual triathlon.
The WAC received several nominations for the 2007 Woman of the Year candidate positions, including Boise State golfer Katherine Street, Fresno State soccer player Rochelle Jagdeo, Fresno State basketball player Chantella Perera, Nevada soccer player Lauren Kinneman, New Mexico State volleyball player Jackie Choi and San Jose State volleyball player Jessie Shull.
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