INDIANAPOLIS – Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball player Claire Sames is among 517 nominees for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year, announced today by the NCAA.
 
The 517 nominees—the most ever in the 26-year history of the Woman of the Year program—spans all three NCAA divisions. Of the nominations, 231 competed in Division I, 117 competed in Division II and 169 competed in Division III. Sames is one of just two student-athletes nominated from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
 
Sames, a 2016 graduate of SMSU with a degree in biology and chemistry, recently concluded an impressive four-year collegiate career. A native of Shakopee, Minn., Sames recorded a 4.0 grade point average as a member of the SMSU volleyball team.
 
Sames was named to the SMSU Dean's List every semester and was a three-time NSIC All-Academic Team member. She was part of the Mustang volleyball program that boasted the highest team GPA at the 2014 National Championships where she earned the NCAA Elite 89 Award. Sames was also the recipient of multiple scholarships including the NSIC Butch Raymond Scholarship, while also earning the NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award honoree.
 
Sames capped her academic career in April by earning the NSIC's Willis R. Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award as the top female student-athlete in the conference.
 
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.
 
Next, conferences assess their member school nominees and select up to two conference nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the top 30 honorees – 10 from each division.
 
From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The top 30 honorees will be honored and the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on Oct. 16.