Kansas City, Mo. -- A total of 455 female student-athletes were nominated for the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Of those nominees, 214 participated in Division I, 90 participated in Division II, and 151 participated in Division III athletics.

The Woman of the Year award honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.

Every year, the NCAA encourages each member college and university to honor its top one or two graduating female student-athletes by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.

Each conference then selects one or two women from the nominees to represent the conference. Those names are then sent to the Woman of the Year selection committee, which chooses the top 10 honorees in each division.

From among those 30 candidates, the selection committee determines the top three in each division and announces the top nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will then vote from among the finalists to determine the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The top 30 honorees will be honored, and the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced, at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on Oct. 20.

The MIAA's nominee's are Central Missouri soccer player Kayla Shain and Fort Hays State softball player Maddie Holub.

In the last three seasons the University of Central Missouri women’s soccer team has had an incredible 34 win –no loss – and two ties regular season record. One significant reason for this impressive record has been the play of Kayla Shain. A team captain, this mid-fielder has completed her career as the schools leader in games played and assists. She is a four time all-MIAA selection and in the past fall season was not only first team all region and first team all-MIAA but she was named the MIAA player of the Year. She has been the recipient of the Dr. Peggy Martin Award at Central as Central’s top senior female student-athlete.

Away from the soccer field Kayla visited the Maple Grove Elementary school  in Warrensburg to read to those student so regularly that she was named as an Honorary First Grader. She participated in the Polar Bear plunge at the Lake of the Ozarks to raise money for the Special Olympics she has been involved in activities to aid the underprivileged and homeless and she has been a participant in Thrive night, an night of games for student’s with special needs.

Kayla is a member of the Central Missouri Honors College, is a member of the National Society for collegiate scholars, the Delta Epsilon Honor society, the Deans list and she was named the outstanding Spanish minor at Central.  This first team academic all-American has an impressive 4.0 GPA with a major in Speech Pathology.

Maddie Holub was the most dominant softball pitcher, not only in the MIAA but also in all of Division II this past season. But not only can this elite softball player pitch, she is also an outstanding hitter. At the completion of the MIAA regular season, she led the league in six offensive categories including batting average, hits and home runs.  Those impressive hitting statistics are only surpassed by her record as a pitcher.  She led the league in 8 pitching categories. This past season Maddie threw six no-hitters including 2 perfect games. She became the first softball pitcher in Division two history to pitch perfect games in back to back starts.  

She helped lead the Tigers to the MIAA Tournament Championship and the top seed in the Central Regional tournament. Nine times during her career Maddie was named the MIAA pitcher or player of the week.  She is the 2013 MIAA player and pitcher of the Year, the first softball player in MIAA history to earn both awards in the same season. Maddie is a first team all-American on every all-American team and she was named National Pitcher of the Week twice.

Off the field Maddie has been very active in the Fort Hays Student Athlete Advisory Committee. She has been a bell ringer for the Salvation Army, she has been involved in food collections for the non-profit group OPTION in her hometown of Hays, Kansas and she has been a referee for youth volleyball, softball and basketball.

Academically Maddie has been a four-time recipient of the Fort Hays Student-Athlete Academic Excellence Award, she has been on the Dean’s list at Fort Hays multiple times and her 3.68 GPA in Health and Human Performance has earned her recognition as an Academic all-American.