Dec. 14, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - UC Davis All-American lacrosse player and 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year Kelly Albin was selected as one of eight recipients of the NCAA Today's Top VIII Award, it was announced Tuesday. She is the first UC Davis student-athlete to capture the honor.

One of the most prestigious awards the NCAA bestows upon a student-athlete, the Today's Top VIII Award annually honors eight student-athletes from the current calendar year for their achievements in athletics, academics, character and leadership. The eight recipients will be recognized on January 9 at the NCAA convention in Grapevine, Texas.

"It's a great honor for Kelly and provides further recognition of her outstanding athletic and academic accomplishments at UC Davis," said Director of Athletics Greg Warzecka. "We are privileged to have had the chance to work with Kelly. She has made her mark at UC Davis and will be remembered for her wonderful contributions to this campus as a student and an athlete."

Albin, who on October 31 was named as the 14th-annual NCAA Woman of the Year, is completing her first quarter toward a master's degree in food science at UC Davis. She graduated magna cum laude in March and was awarded a Department Citation as the top graduating senior, finishing with a 3.95 composite grade-point average.

As a scholar-athlete, the Fort Bragg, Calif. native claimed nearly every possible award during her senior year. In addition to her NCAA Woman of the Year award, Albin was selected as the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Division II Scholar-Athlete of the Year on the very day that she won the university's W.P. Lindley Award, bestowed upon the campus's top scholar-athlete. Albin also won her second straight CoSIDA Academic All-America award and was selected to both the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Academic All-Conference team and the IWLCA All-Academic Team.

On the field, Albin appeared on three All-America first teams: by Inside Lacrosse magazine, the IWLCA and the webzine womenslacrosse.com. She set a school record of 29 assists to go with her career-best 43 goals, helping lead the Aggies to a 12-5 record and a No. 2 ranking in the final IL Division II Power Poll. She holds school career records of 71 assists and 147 ground balls, and ranks among UC Davis' all-time leaders in goals, points, shots, draw controls and shooting percentage.

Albin also served as coordinator for UC Davis' Peer Counselors in Athletics, supervising and training more than 20 interns and organizing all PCA events. Additionally, she spent the Fall 2003 academic quarter in Urubamba, Peru as a volunteer for the ProPERU Service Corps. Accomplished as a musican, she was a flautist for both a university septet and an ensemble in her hometown, the latter of which performed at churches and senior citizen homes.

Albin is the seventh NCAA Woman of the Year winner to also claim a Today's Top VIII award. The Today's Top VIII Award originated in 1973 as the Today's Top V Award, then later became the Today's Top VI Award in 1986. In 1995, the honor expanded to eight recipients. Past Top VIII honorees include five Heisman Trophy (football) and four Naismith Award (basketball) winners.

Besides Albin, the 2004 NCAA Today's Top VIII class comprises Olympic diver Caesar Garcia of Auburn, seven-time NCAA champion swimmer Tara Kirk of Stanford, All-American women's basketball player Kelly Mazzante of Penn State, women's basketball and track All-American Kay Mikolajczak of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Olympic volleyball player Ogonna Nnamani of Stanford, Olympic ice hockey player Angela Ruggiero of Harvard and All-American soccer player Kelly Wilson of Texas.

The NCAA Today's Top VIII honorees are selected by the NCAA Honors Committee: Cedric W. Dempsey, NCAA president emeritus; Clyde Doughty Jr., New York Tech athletics director; Jo Ann Harper, Darthmouth director of athletics; Susan Hartmann, Ohio State history professor; Calvin Hill, consultant for Alexander & Associates, Inc.;and Karen Johnson, Alfred University director of institutional research. Valerie A. Richardson, associate athletics director and senior women's administrator at UC Santa Barbara, chairs the NCAA Honors Committee.

2004 NCAA TODAY'S TOP VIII WINNERS (alphabetically)
Kelly Albin, University of California, Davis, women's lacrosse
Caesar Garcia, Auburn University, swimming and diving
Tara Kirk, Stanford University, swimming and diving
Kelly Mazzante, Pennsylvania State University, women's basketball
Kay Mikolajczak, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, women's basketball and outdoor track and field
Ogonna Nnamani, Stanford University, women's volleyball
Angela Ruggiero, Harvard University, women's ice hockey
Kelly Wilson, University of Texas at Austin, women's soccer

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