2014 NCAA Woman of the Year Conference Honorees

Indianapolis, IN -- In a recent announcement by the NCAA, former Academy of Art University women's golfer Andrea Nieto was named one of the Top 25 finalists for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, representing the entire Pacific West Conference. Nieto, who is currently working on 'Materials Exploration' at Adidas, has now entered uncharted territory for the Urban Knights in terms of this distinguished honor that recognizes the athletics, academic, community service, and leadership achievements of outstanding young women.

"I'm incredibly honored and humbled to be nominated for this award," Nieto said. "All the efforts made on the course and the classroom where part of my passion for the sport and my team. There are really no more words to thank those who have been there supporting me and mentoring me along the way."

Over the past five years, Nieto has been recognized for her stellar career on the golf course, a senior and All-PacWest Third Team on the first ART U Women's Golf squad to reach NCAA Regionals, and in the classroom, twice a recipient of the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award and a two-time NGCA All-American Scholar Team honoree. As a senior, she also made the PacWest Academic All-Conference Team in 2012-13, the first year women's golf was included as a PacWest sport. She boasted a 3.89 GPA as an undergraduate in the School of Fashion - Textile Design, was a residence hall assistant, and served as a student assistant coach with the golf team for the 2013-14 season.

"Thank you Academy of Art University Athletics for putting so much trust and support in me," Nieto said. "Being an Urban Knight - a college golfer and becoming a designer - was my dream come true. I will forever be an Urban Knight."

Nieto did not stop there, however, as her textile work took her to Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week this past February, earned her an internship with BCBGMAXAZRIA in 2013, as well as various industry honors including the Pointcarre Software Prize for Textile Design from the Royal Society of Arts U.S. Student Design Awards and made her a finalist for the prestigious Geoffrey Beene Scholarship Award in March. In late May, ART U's Athletic Department selected Nieto for the school's annual NCAA Woman of the Year nomination.

"Andrea Nieto exemplifies all aspects of being an artist-athlete," Director of Athletics Colin Preston said. "We're extremely proud of her accomplishments during her time as a student here and we're excited to follow her continued success in the future."

Well prepared for the professional world, Nieto now finds herself in Adidas' Portland, Oregon headquarters exploring fashions of the future. She began as a Materials Exploration Intern in June and has collaborated with the Innovation Team to look into what athletes will be sporting as many as seven years from now. Some of Nieto's many responsibilities include shoe design involving the material aspect and overall product design. She even has three challenging 2017 design projects currently teed up on her desk.

"It's incredible that the skills I learned at Academy of Art University have now allowed me to qualify to work at Adidas," Nieto said. "For me, it's amazing to still be connected to the sport and see how the 'team player' skills learned from my golf team highly transfer to the working environment. It's a great opportunity to be part of the 'Innovation Team' here at Adidas and to be creating the new products that our athletes will be wearing."

By division, 52 NCAA Woman of the Year honorees competed in Division I conferences, 25 competed in Division II, and 49 competed in Division III. From these pools, the Woman of the Year selection committee will next select the Top 10 honorees in each division to be recognized. 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 then votes from amongst those nine finalists to determine the 2014 Woman of the Year. The Top 30 honorees will be honored, and the 2014 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced, at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 19.

"Working with Andrea last year when she served as our student assistant, I was so impressed by her work ethic and ability to excel and work at such a high level at whatever she did," head coach Elaine Harris said. "When I would be driving the team home after tournaments, Andrea would be working in her sketch book. She would talk me through her designs and the ideas she was developing then tell me the importance of drawing in her field. She wanted to improve her skills, not for a class assignment but because she knew that this was important for her career. I know she will succeed. I am so excited for her in her new job at Adidas and for her being recognized as one of the top athletes in Division II athletics. She wholly deserves the accolades."

Now in its 24th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female student-athletes for their achievements in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.

Check out more from Andrea Nieto on her website: www.andre-nieto.com