Ohio State Track Star Sade Olatoye Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

One of the all-time great Ohio State women's track and field stars has been presented as a candidate for perhaps the most prestigious award any student-athlete can receive. The Buckeyes announced Thursday that Sade Olatoye has been nominated for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

An NCAA champion in the weight throw in 2019, Olatoye won five Big Ten titles and was twice the Big Ten Indoor Field Athlete of the Year before graduating this past spring. In addition to her outstanding accomplishments in athletics, Olatoye was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar for maintaining at least a 3.70 grade-point average during last academic year. She graduated with a degree in health sciences. Olatoye was a four-time OSU Scholar-Athlete and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.

Olatoye was the 2019 Ohio State Female Athlete of the Year and she holds four school records, including the indoor (17.88m) and outdoor (17.88m) shot put marks, the weight throw (24.46m) and the hammer throw (67.49m). She also competed for the Nigerian Senior National Team and won the shot put championship at the 2019 All African Games in Rabat, Morocco. Olatoye also competed for Nigeria at the 2019 World Championships.

Earlier this year, Olatoye won a the Big Ten's Wayne Duke Postgraduate Scholarship award winner. She earned a $10,000 scholarship to apply towards her graduate school education. She also earned the NCAA Winter Sports Postgraduate Scholarship.

When she's not competing for the Buckeyes, Olatoye kept quite busy. She worked with the African Youth League and Ohio State's Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force, among several other activities.

Olatoye was one of a record 605 female college athletes to be nominated for this year's award. The NCAA Woman of the Year Award was established in 1991 to recognize graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

The nominees represent all three NCAA divisions and encompass 24 sports, with multisport student-athletes accounting for 128 of the nominees.

Next, conference offices will select up to two nominees each from their pool of member school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division.

From the Top 30, the Woman of the Year selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division and announce nine finalists. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then will choose the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named this fall.

The Buckeyes won their second consecutive and fourth overall indoor track championship back in February. Head coach Karen Dennis is a member of the Ohio State Hall of Fame Class of 2020. She is one of the most recognizable and well-respected women across the globe in the track and field community.

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