FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – The Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) Council selected Frostburg State graduate Kayla Truesdel as one of two CAC candidates for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year.
 
Truesdel becomes the second FSU athlete to be nominated by the CAC for NCAA Woman of the Year, following in the footsteps of former volleyball and tennis standout Sarah Stephens. Stephens was selected as one of the Top 30 honorees for the NCAA Woman of the Year in 2011.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year recognizes graduating female collegiate athletes who have shown exemplary performance in academics, athletics, service and leadership. Annually, the NCAA encourages member schools to submit its top graduating student-athletes for consideration for the Woman of the Year.
 
To be eligible for Woman of the Year, a female student-athlete must have completed their athletic eligibility in their primary sport by the end of the 2018 spring season and graduated during the spring or summer term with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.50.
 
Truesdel graduated summa cum laude in May from Frostburg with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science. She maintained a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA, and was a four-time CAC All-Academic honoree. Truesdel capped her incredible career with a Google Cloud Academic All-American nod, the first in track & field program history.
 
In her senior campaign, Truesdel was named the CAC's Female Track & Field Athlete of the Year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons for the second-consecutive season. She piled up six CAC championships and four ECAC titles, along with six All-Region medals.
 
Truesdel placed 11^th in the 200-meter dash (25.25) at the NCAA Indoor Championships and 11^th in the 100-meter dash (12.57) in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In all, she made five trips to the NCAA Championships in three different events over her final three years at Frostburg.
 
For her entire career, Trusdel complied 11 conference championships, 14 All-Region honors, 18 All-CAC certificates, five ECAC championships, three Frostburg State track & field records, one CAC record and was named the Frostburg State Women's Athlete of the Year in each of the last two seasons.
 
In addition to the academic and athletic prowess, Truesdel volunteered with an annual Girls on the Run 5K event, helping facilitate healthy habits and choices among young people. She was involved with the Allegany County (Western Maryland) Special Olympics, helping raise funds for the organization through the Vera Bradley Bingo/Silent Auction event. Truesdel was also a member of Beautify the Burg, cleaning up trash in the town of Frostburg along with painting buildings, light posts, and other clean-up activites. Additionally, she assisted with Relay for Life, Diabetes Walks, and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure/Breast Cancer Walk in Cumberland, Md.
The top 30 honorees for NCAA Woman of the Year, 10 from each NCAA division, will be announced in early September. From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year.
 
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.
Four national finalists have represented the CAC in the NCAA Woman of the Year competition since 1996, including Goucher's Michele Mohlman (1996), Mary Washington's Melissa Block (2003), Goucher's Stephanie LaGue (2005) and Salisbury's Sue Ackermann (2008).