Hayley Emerick Selected as NCAA Woman of the Year Finalist

San Antonio - Trinity University Tigers national diving champion Hayley Emerick (Portland, Texas/Gregory-Portland) has been selected as one of the nine finalists for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced Oct. 16 in Indianapolis by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics. The award honors senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service, and leadership.
 
Earlier, Emerick was earlier chosen as one of the top-30 nominees, selected from 471 student-athletes in all NCAA divisions.
 
Emerick earned a bachelor' degree from Trinity last May in business administration (marketing).
 
During her collegiate career, Emerick captured the NCAA Division III Women's 3-meter Diving Championship, in 2010.  Last March, Emerick finished as runner-up on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards at the NCAA Championships, making her Trinity’s first four-time all-American in the sport of diving.

"My academic experience taught me hard work, perseverance, and determination," Emerick said, "while my athletic experience taught me to set my goals high and to create a plan for reaching them step-by-step.  It has given me patience and the ability to plan well into the future, and I have realized that rigorous preparation, though tough, eventually pays off.”

Emerick helped Trinity’s swimming and diving team win a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship during each of her four years of competition. Emerick was a seven-time SCAC champion in the 1-meter and 3-meter events, and was named SCAC Women’s Diver of the Year four times. In addition, Emerick was elected the 2011 SCAC Woman of the Year.

An outstanding student, Emerick was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, and became the 32nd Trinity student-athlete to attain the honor. She also was named an Academic All-American.
 
She excelled in the classroom as a member of Alpha Lambda Delta honor society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and was a founding member of the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity on Trinity’s campus.
 
Emerick was also a caring member of the community, serving the San Antonio and Corpus Christi areas in a variety of capacities, including work for the YWCA, YMCA, and Habitat for Humanity.
 
The summer before her senior year, Emerick spent five weeks in Costa Rica with the Cross Cultural Solutions Volunteer Abroad program.  She worked on marketing development for a small business in the country, while volunteering at a local orphanage and teaching English at a local university.

 Trinity's diving coach is Stan Randall, and the swimming coach is John Ryan.