ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Empire 8 announced on Wednesday that Ithaca senior golfer Sharon Li will be nominated by the conference for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Utica field hockey player Hannah Mackey, who was selected as the 2015 E8 Woman of the Year, is also being nominated.

Conferences may nominate two nominees if at least one is an ethnic minority or an international student. Mackey and Li join an elite group of student-athletes from across NCAA Division I, II and III nominated for the award.   

Li recently won the Iris Carnell Senior Athlete of the Year Award, named after a former Ithaca coach and administrator who was the first female inductee into the Ithaca Athletic Hall of Fame. Li has won three-consecutive Empire 8 individual titles, most recently taking the honor in the fall of 2014. She was named Division III Player of the Year last season and was honored on the Region 1/East Region Team. This year marks Li's third-straight All-America honor. She earned first team recognition in 2013 and 2014. She's recorded three top-20 finishes at the NCAAs and two top-10 finishes.

Li took part in numerous organizations both on and off campus. Those organizations included the Ithaca Leadership Academy, Captain's Council and International Club. Li volunteered her time with the SPCA of Tompkins County, took part in Relay for Life, helped organize the Ithaca Polar Plunge in 2015 and coordinated toys and gifts to be supplied to the Giving Tree to help fulfill a child's wish. Li was also a three year SAAC representative and served as SAAC secretary in the 2014-15 year.

July Update: NCAA member colleges and universities have nominated 480 female student-athletes – the most ever in the history of the program – for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Now in its 25th year, the 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.
 
Of the nominees, 207 competed in Division I, 93 competed in Division II and 180 competed in Division III athletics.

The 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced, and the Top 30 honorees celebrated, at the annual award ceremony Oct. 18 in Indianapolis.

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The NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, nominees must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have completed eligibility in her primary sport.