Women's Track & Field | 8/2/2018 3:00:00 PM

FAIRFAX, Va. – For the second straight year, a George Mason track and field standout has been nominated by the Atlantic 10 for a prestigious national honor.

Sprinter Sharon Dorsey was selected by the A-10 as one of its two league nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Dorsey graduated in May with a degree in environmental science. She joins former discus thrower Michelle Wallerstedt (2017) as Mason alums to be nominated by the A-10.

Dorsey and Massachusetts alum Heather MacLean, also a track standout, were chosen by the A-10 from a pool of 14 honorees, which represented seven A-10 sports and 11 member schools. Dorsey and former women's basketball standout Natalie Butler were both chosen as nominees last month when the initial list was announced.

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.

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 (Division I, II and III). 

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.

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.