Top student athlete takes NCAA award.
Westfield State University has produced many exceptional scholar athletes throughout the years, and the 2013–14 academic year was no exception.
While an astounding 60 percent of the University’s 450 student athletes earned 3.0 or higher cumulative grade point averages, it was volleyball standout Julia Warner of Lee who excelled the most. The 2014 Westfield State graduate was nominated for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Woman of the Year Award by the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC).
The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors graduating student athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. The award has been given annually since 1991.
Warner is Westfield State’s fourth recipient of this prestigious honor in the past six years. Former Owl student athletes Rachael Cardin (2013, cross country/track and field), Alicia Gardner (2011, softball/field hockey) and Marlee Berg (2009, cross country/track and field) also were MASCAC nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Warner was a three-time all-conference selection and two-year team captain who helped lead the women’s volleyball team to three MASCAC championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances during her stellar four-year collegiate career.
Warner received a number of notable accolades during her senior year. She was an All-New England selection, the MASCAC Player of the Year and the MASCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Furthermore, her name is etched in the Westfield State record books as the only volleyball player with more than 1,000 career kills (1.098) and 1,000 career digs (1,249).
Truly a scholar athlete, Warner excelled in the classroom as well. A double major (movement science/mathematics), she was Westfield State’s Senior Female Scholar Athlete of the Year with a 3.89 cumulative grade point average and was selected to the 2013 Capital One Academic All-District® volleyball team.
Warner received Westfield State’s prestigious Coach John Kurty Contributions to Athletics Award and the University’s Movement Science Department award for academic excellence. She was a regional and state recipient of the Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Outstanding Future Professional award.
Warner’s service to the University and community was highly commendable. She was a four-year member of the Westfield State Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and a two-year member of the MASCAC SAAC. During her senior year, Warner was the Movement Science Department club president and a member of the Mathematics Curriculum Planning Committee. Among her numerous community service projects, she was a volunteer for Special Olympics and breast cancer awareness activities and served as a volleyball summer program coordinator for the past four years.
“We are very proud of Julia’s many accomplishments. She was an outstanding student athlete the past four years,” says Nancy Bals, associate athletics director/senior women’s administrator.
