LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Two female student-athletes from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference have been selected as the conference's nominations for the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year Award: Slippery Rock’s Anna Igims and East Stroudsburg’s Jady van Gils.
The NCAA Woman of the Year award, established in 1991, recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service, and leadership throughout their college careers.
Anna Igims – Slippery Rock Cross Country / Indoor + Outdoor Track & Field
In 2024-25, Igims was voted the PSAC Athlete of the Year for all three of her seasons (Cross Country, Indoor Track & Field, and Outdoor Track & Field) in addition to a trio of PSAC Top 10 honors and the PSAC Pete Nevins Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. She completed an undefeated 2024-25 year of PSAC competition, winning seven individual PSAC titles and leading Slippery Rock to three team titles. She was the PSAC and Atlantic Region Women’s Cross Country champion and was the first Slippery Rock female to earn All-America honors at the national meet since 2009. She won three PSAC indoor track titles, three PSAC outdoor track titles, and earned First Team All-America honors in the steeplechase at the national meet for the second consecutive season.
Igims’ community service and campus activities included work with the Special Olympics and Rock Life Program as well as time as a Unified Fitness Exercise Coach working with adapted needs individuals.
Academically, Igims earned an undergraduate degree in School Wellness Education, a graduate degree in Applied Behavioral Analysis, and tallied a 3.98 cumulative grade-point average (GPA). She was a two-time CSC Academic All-America honoree (Second Team in 2023-24, First Team in 2024-25), a seven-time USTFCCCA All-Academic Honoree, a five-time PSAC Top 10 honoree, and earned PSAC Scholar-Athlete and D2ADA Academic Achievement status in each of her five seasons.
Jady van Gils – East Stroudsburg Field Hockey
In 2024-25, Van Gils earned her second straight PSAC Athlete of the Year and NFHCA Division II Player of the Year awards and ended her career with the second-most starts, third-most assists, and 12
th-most career points in ESU history. She was a Division II Honda Athlete of the Year Finalist in both 2024 and 2025 and a three-time NFHCA First Team All-America and PSAC All-Conference honoree.
Her community service and campus activities included work with the campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), work with ESU Field Hockey Camps, and volunteer work at the Pediatric Medical Daycare Center in the Netherlands.
Her academic accomplishments in pursuit of a degree in Sport Management (3.79 GPA) include a CSC Academic All-America Third Team and D2ADA Academic Achievement award in 2024, two career PSAC Fall Top 10 awards, and four PSAC Scholar-Athlete honors.
PSAC member institutions also nominated three other student-athletes for NCAA Woman of the Year consideration in 2025: Clarion’s Alexa Gonczi, West Chester’s Kaitlynn Haughey, and East Stroudsburg’s Abigail Weirich.
Those student-athlete's accomplishments are also listed below.
Igims and van Gils will now have the chance to be selected as Top 30 Woman of the Year nominees by the Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from NCAA membership. The committee will choose 10 honorees from each division, announced in October, with further rounds of voting narrowing the field down to three finalists from each division. The final announcement of the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year will occur at the NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C. in January of 2026.
To learn more about the award program and previous winners, visit
ncaa.org/woty.
Kristin Day, a former diver from Clarion, remains the PSAC's only winner of the prestigious award (in 2015) and remains the only honoree from a Pennsylvania-based institution to ever win the award.
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2025 Woman of the Year Nominees from PSAC Member Institutions
Alexa Gonczi – Clarion – Women's Swimming & Diving
Major: Psychology
GPA: 3.72
Community Service/Campus Activities: President’s Leadership Academy, Title IX Intern, Walk a Mile, DDC Volunteer Dive Coach
Academic Achievement: 2023-24 PSAC Winter Top 10 Honoree, 2024 CSCAA Scholar All-American, two-time CSC Academic All-District Selection, four-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete
Kaitlyn Haughey – West Chester – Women's Soccer
Major: Early Grades and Special Education
GPA: 3.84
Community Service/Campus Activities: Melton Center (providing children with care and academic support), Buddy Walk, Handicrafters
Academic Achievement: 2025 United Soccer Scholar All-America, three-time D2 ADA Academic Achievement, four-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete
Abigail Weirich – East Stroudsburg – Softball
Major: Exercise Science (Concentration in Pre-Professional Therapeutic Sciences)
GPA: 3.60
Community Service/Campus Activities: Team Impact Representative, Hidden Opponent Mental Health Awareness, Soles for Souls
Academic Achievement: Dean’s List Fall 2023-Spring 2025, two-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete, CSC Academic All-America Second Team in 2025