WACO, Texas — Newman graduate Delaney Hiegert has been named the 2017-18 Heartland Conference Woman of the Year, as selected by the league's senior woman administrators.
The Woman of the Year Award is given to an outstanding graduating female student-athlete who demonstrates excellence in competition, the classroom and their community. A standout softball player for the Jets, Hiegert is the first Newman student-athlete to win the conference award since its inception in 2005-06, and remains in the running to be named the NCAA Woman of the Year this fall.
Hiegert batted .261 in 51 games during her senior campaign in 2018, leading the team with 42 hits and 24 runs and finishing fourth in the Heartland with 15 stolen bases. She helped lead the Jets to Heartland Conference tournament appearances in 2015 and 2017, and was named second-team all-conference this season.
Exemplifying what it means to be a student-athlete, Hiegert earned a 4.00 cumulative grade point average during her time at Newman, graduating summa cum laude as a communication major with minors in journalism and criminal justice in May.
Her outstanding work in the classroom netted her a place on the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Softball Team, the only Heartland softball player to earn the honor this season. She is also an eight-time Heartland President's Honor Roll recipient, earning the honor each semester she was at Newman.
The Topeka, Kansas native served as editor in chief for The Vantage, Newman's student-run newspaper, for two years beginning in 2016-17. As editor in chief, Hiegert started high school visits with local campuses to encourage students to pursue careers and opportunities in journalism and created special sections within the newspaper to address mental health, alcoholism and athletes.
Hiegert also advocated and helped launch Newman's LGBT+ organization Kaleidoscope in 2017. The organization raised over $1,200 for South Central Mental Health Centers, a local youth mental health organization, and collaborated with the local GLSEN chapter working to eliminate bullying and discrimination against LGBT+ youths.
Established in 1991 and now in its 27th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers from throughout the NCAA's three divisions.
The national top 30 — 10 finalists per division — will be announced in early September, with the winner announced at an awards dinner Oct. 28 in Indianapolis.
