INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The NCAA has released the list of nominees for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, a list that includes Vassar women's cross country and track & field student-athlete Sasha Allison among the 577 nominees for this year's award.

Allison, who graduated with a degree in sociology in May, posted a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average during her Vassar career as a member of both the cross country and track & field programs.

During the 2021-22 season, Allison was outstanding to open the fall cross country slate. She finished top-five in five of the eight races she competed. One of the team captains in both sports this past season, Allison finished runner-up at the Liberty League Championships, earning All-League First Team honors with a time of 23:27.6. She went into the Mideast Regional Meet, taking 12th overall with a career-best mark of 22:36.2 to earn All-Region recognition.

Allison became just the third Brewer in school history to be named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team last month, and is also just the second Vassar track & field participant to garner the honor – following in the footsteps of First Team selection, Heather Ingraham in 2015. Additionally, she was one of just three Liberty League student-athletes to garner Academic All-America recognition in the women's cross country/track & field category this year.

After helping the Vassar women's team to its first-ever NCAA Championship appearance in 2019, Allison was once again selected for Nationals – this time as an individual. Allison, who began the race at the 223rd place, consistently improved her spot each split on the 6,000-meter course. She finished her final collegiate cross country race in 134th with a time of 22:39.3.

During the 2022 outdoor track & field season, Allison continued to flourish, opening the season with an eighth-place finish in the 5,000-meter race at the competitive Washington & Lee Carnival. She went on to win the 5k at the Ramapo Invitational, before taking third overall in the 1500-meter event at the Vassar Invite. At the Silfen Invitational, Allison ran a personal-record time of 18:07.97 in the 5k to finish 11th overall, followed by a personal-best of 5:01.16 in the 1500 at the Farley Invite for sixth.

Allison went on to earn seventh overall in the 5k with a time of 18:15.15 at the Liberty League Championships, finishing the season with a ninth-place finish in the 5k at the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Championship with a time of 18:37.95.

A multiple Liberty League All-Academic selection, Allison earned USTFCCA All-Academic individual honors in cross country and was named the 2022 Vassar Athletics Scholar-Athlete Award winner.

Allison concluded an outstanding career for the Brewers, which also saw her earn All-Liberty League East Second Team in the 5k with second overall in spring of 2021.
In addition to her outstanding work on the course, the track and in the classroom, Allison made her mark as an admirable leader on campus. In addition to work for a community non-profit, For the Many, she was also a member of the Vassar Greens Sustainability Club and the co-founder and executive member of the Sustainability in Athletics Working Group.
 
During the 2021-22 academic year, Allison served as the Vassar Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President, helping to establish and organize SAAC's Compete for a Cause, which saw each of the Brewers' 27 teams participate in one philanthropic/service event that was student-led.

Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.
The nominees competed in different sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 259 nominees from Division I, 126 from Division II and 220 from Division III. Multi-sport student-athletes account for 128 of the nominees.

Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division.