University of Richmond Athletics
Allen, Espenschied Named NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees
06/27/2017 | General, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Track & Field
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond is known to bring together the best of both academics and athletics to attract unique and accomplished student-athletes.
Recent graduates Mary Allen and Leslie Espenschied have proven themselves to be accomplished both on and off the field while at the University of Richmond, and have been honored as nominees for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year Award following outstanding careers as Richmond student-athletes.
The pair are two of 13 institutional nominees representing the Atlantic 10 Conference.
One of the most prestigious NCAA awards, the NCAA established the Woman of the Year Award in 1991 to celebrate the achievements of women in intercollegiate athletics. Now in its 27th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
The 2017 Atlantic 10 institutional nominees are recognized for being standout citizens with robust academic success, complimented by competitive athletic resumes, while sustaining dynamic leadership in their communities. The 13 candidates have noteworthy credentials, including All-American and Academic All-America honors, conference championships and All-Conference award winners, NCAA Championship success, and campus involvement, including serving as student-athlete leaders. A brief biography of each candidate, listed alphabetically by institution, is below.
A four-year member of the track & field team and a 2016-17 team captain, Allen made her mark while at the University of Richmond. A star on the track, she earned gold in the 200m at the 2017 Indoor Championships, as well as bronze in the 400m. She also took silver in the 200m at the 2017 Outdoor Championships, and broke the school record in the 300m with a time of 39.3.
Allen's leadership also translated off of the track, as she was named a recipient of the Richmond Athletics 2017 Outstanding Leadership Award as a member of the Black Student-Athlete Summit Group and the Richmond Cross Country/Track & Field William L. Lumpkin Leadership Award. She also cofounded the leadership group For the Culture, and was a Minority Student Pre-Orientation staff member, a mentor at Henderson Middle School and an intern with Young Life.
A 2017 captain of the women's lacrosse team and two-time Second Team All-Conference honoree, Espenschied completed an impressive career after leading the Spiders to four-straight A-10 Championship games.
A four-year member of the A-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and University of Richmond Scholar Athlete, Espenschied as honored with the Presidential Citation Award for earning the highest GPA of any female senior student-athlete and the Robins School of Business Student-Athlete of the Year. She was also named to the A-10 All-Academic Team in both 2016 and 2017, becoming just the third Spider women's lacrosse player to earn the honor in two consecutive years.
The Atlanta native was named to the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll, the VaSID Academic All-State Team and to the Dean's List each semester of her college career, ultimately graduating Magna Cum Laude. She was also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society.
Espenschied was extremely active in the community during her time as a Spider, serving as the publicity chair on the Mortar Board and as a member of the Omnicron Delta Kappa Leadership Society and Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society. She also worked with Blackhawk Lacrosse, BARK Richmond and served as an Anna Julia Cooper Mentor.
Players Mentioned
