Thames and Hall Receive NCAA Woman of the Year Nomination

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---Two CSUN student-athletes were nominated for the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Taylor Thames, a two-sport student-athlete in women's soccer and track & field, along with Lacey Hall, a women's water polo student-athlete, were among the 10 nominations from The Big West for the prestigious annual award, as announced on Tuesday.
 
Eight Big West member institutions have at least one woman in the program-record pool of 619 nominees from schools across all three NCAA divisions.
 
Thames graduated from CSUN with a degree in Sociology and Africana Studies. Last July, she earned the Big West Service and Leadership award for her work off the field. She has served as the co-president of the CSUN Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) while she has been a member of The Big West SAAC and Big West Undivided. Thames was also the co-student founder of Matador United, CSUN's diversity and equity committee, and the secretary on the Black Student Advocacy Panel. In addition, Thames has completed volunteer work as a camp counselor at CSUN Women's Soccer camps and an event organizer for the U.S. Women's National Team pre-event, and served her spare time at North Hills Community Parks Soccer League.
 
On the field of play, Thames spent four years as a goalkeeper on the women's soccer team where she appeared in 16 total matches and collected six wins to go with three shutouts. She also competed in three outdoor seasons on the track & field team where she participated in the 100m and 200m events.
 
A Business major, Hall graduated with honors this past spring. Hall has received multiple academic honors while at CSUN including the Big West Commissioner's Honor Roll and All-Academic Team. She has served as president of the CSUN SAAC and the vice president for alumni relations in the Business Honors Program. While at CSUN, Hall has been involved in a mentorship program where she helped new students in their transition to the university. Hall also worked with the CSUN Sports Communications department as a production crew member on ESPN+ broadcasts during the 2022-23 year. An aspiring athletic director, Hall was previously one-of-200 invited to the NCAA Career and Sports Forum in Indianapolis in 2022.
 
In the pool, Hall spent the past four years with the women's water polo team. She competed in 58 total matches, finishing with seven goals, 21 assists and 27 steals in helping the Matadors maintain a national ranking each season.
 
Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from their pool of nominees, if at least one of the nominees is a woman of color or international student-athlete. The Woman of the Year selection committee will then choose 10 women from each division to make up the Top 30 to be announced in October. The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division announced in November, and the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will determine the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year. The Woman of the Year will be celebrated at the 2024 NCAA Convention in January.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2023.

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