INDIANAPOLIS - Seattle U basketball player
Wilma Afunugo and swimmer
Blaise Wittenauer-Lee have been selected by the WAC senior woman administrators to represent the WAC for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year award. In its 27th year, the award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.
Afunugo, who was born in Onitsha, Nigeria, moved to the United States when she was eight and graduated from Plano (Texas) High School. She graduated with a 3.60 cumulative grade-point average as a cell and molecular biology major. Afunugo earned Seattle U's Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award, the highest honor in the department in recognition of athletic, academic and service accomplishments. A four-time Academic All-WAC selection, she was named to the Dean's List eight times and to the President's List once.
A two-time team captain, Afunugo wrapped up her career by earning a spot on the WAC All-Tournament Team after tallying a pair of double-doubles to help the Redhawks advance to the WAC Tournament championship game.
Afunugo participated in the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center Summer Undergraduate Research Program in 2016, volunteered in the ICU department of Harborview Medical Center from 2015-17 and served as a research assistant in the Seattle U Chemistry Department from 2015-17. She also volunteered at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School helping with art projects in the after school program and was a camp coach at the Nancy Lieberman Basketball Camp.
A Portland, Ore., native, Wittenauer-Lee earned a bachelor's degree in social work in May, graduating with a 3.67 cumulative GPA. A three-time College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American, she earned Academic All-WAC honors three times, was named to the President's List six times and to the Dean's List four times. Wittenauer-Lee was also a member of the Lambda Tau chapter of Phi Alpha, the social work honor society.
Wittenauer-Lee was named the 2017 WAC Female Swimmer of the Year after winning three individual titles at the 2017 WAC Championships. She set conference records in the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke, and also claimed the title in the 200 individual medley. Wittenauer-Lee became the first Redhawk swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships, where she placed 27th in the 200 breast. Wittenauer-Lee, who won Seattle U's Female Athlete of the Year Award, was also the WAC champion in the 100 and 200 breast at the 2016 WAC Championships.
From 2009-15, Wittenauer-Lee volunteered more than 200 hours with Guide Dogs for the Blind, raising six dogs that were given to blind people. She served as a social work intern at Emerald House, an adult treatment center for people suffering from severe mental health challenges. Wittenauer-Lee also volunteered at Spruce Street Secure Crisis Residential Center, the Brain Injury Alliance of Washington and Forterra.
Afunugo and Wittenauer-Lee were among 543 school nominees for the award, the most ever in the history of the program. As the WAC's nominees, they are among 145 conference nominees.
The Woman of the Year selection committee will next select the top 10 honorees in each division. These top 30 honorees will be announced in early September. The selection committee will then choose and announce the top nine finalists (three from each division) at the end of September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from amongst those nine finalists to determine the 2017 Woman of the Year.
The top 30 honorees will be honored and the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 22.
To view the complete list of conference nominees, click
here.