Women's Track & Field | 7/2/2018 3:05:00 PM

FAIRFAX, Va. – Two stupendous ambassadors for George Mason University have been nominated for one of the most prestigious honors in collegiate athletics.

On Monday, Natalie Butler (women's basketball) and Sharon Dorsey (women's track and field) were both announced as nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. They were two of just 14 student-athlete nominees from the Atlantic 10 Conference. Mason, Dayton and George Washington were the only schools in the league with multiple nominees.

One of the most prestigious NCAA awards, the NCAA established the Woman of the Year Award in 1991 to celebrate the achievements of women in intercollegiate athletics. Now in its 28th 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.

The 2018 Atlantic 10 institutional nominees are recognized for being standout citizens with robust academic success, complimented by competitive athletic resumes, while sustaining dynamic leadership in their communities. The 14 candidates have noteworthy credentials, including All-American and Academic All-District honors, conference championships and All-Conference award winners, NCAA Championship success, and campus involvement, including serving as student-athlete leaders.

The league's Senior Woman Administrators will vote on 13 of the nominees to select two who will represent the Atlantic 10 Conference as 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year finalists. One nominee, gymnast Cami Drouin-Allaireof George Washington, competes in a sport which is not sponsored by the Atlantic 10, and will be considered from among a national pool of candidates.

After the Atlantic 10 and all other leagues have selected up to two conference nominees, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the top 30 honorees — 10 from each division. From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine. The top 30 honorees will be recognized and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 28 in Indianapolis.

Butler, a graduate student from Fairfax Station, Va., played her lone season with the Patriots this past winter. She earned All-America Honorable Mention honors from the Associated Press and was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. 

She graduated from the University of Connecticut in May 2017 with her degree in communications and enrolled in graduate school for global affairs at Mason in June 2017. After playing for the Huskies for two years – and winning the 2016 national championship – she made an immediate impact at Mason, breaking the NCAA Division I single-season record for rebounds (563) and tying the Division I records for double-doubles (33) and consecutive double-doubles in a season (33).  She led the nation in rebounding (16.6 rpg) and led the Atlantic 10 in scoring (19.2 ppg). She also set Mason's program record for points in a season (653). She was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team, the All-Defensive Team and the All-Academic Team. 

She helped the Patriots set a school record for wins (24), post their highest finish ever in the Atlantic 10 (11-5, fourth), reach the postseason for the first time in 14 years and win a postseason game for the first time in program history as the Patriots advanced to the second round of the WNIT. 

She became the first player in program history to be drafted, taken 30th overall by the Dallas Wings in the 2018 WNBA Draft. After competing with the Wings in training camp, she signed a professional deal to play overseas with Belgium squad Belfius Namur Capitale.

A six-time Atlantic 10 champion, Dorsey compiled an impressive career on and off the track for the Patriots. The Baltimore native won six A-10 gold medals (indoor and outdoor) as a member of the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays. That included helping the Patriots set the A-10 Championship record in the 4x400 with a winning time of 3:38.58 at the 2018 A-10 Outdoor Championships. 

She was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Women's Track/Cross Country Team by CoSIDA this past spring. She also received a postgraduate scholarship from the Atlantic 10 and was named to the All-Academic Team for track (indoor and outdoor) five times. In addition, she was named to the A-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll seven times. 

She also received the Mason athletic department's prestigious Susan A. Collins Leadership Award for Women in Sport. She was an A-10 representative for the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, where she also served as vice president. 

She also was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society and was the treasurer for her Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter. She received the Outstanding Performance Departmental Award from the College of Science, the 2017 MVP Award from the Black Excellence Gala. In the community, she volunteered in the Occoquan River Clean Up, the Victim's Rights Run/Walk 5K and the Langston Hughes Middle School Career Day.

She graduated with her degree in environmental science in May and is currently working for KCI Technologies, an engineering, consulting and construction firm in Baltimore.