NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan’s Jill Harmon was named the 2016 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Woman of the Year on Monday and will now represent the conference as a nominee for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
 
Harmon, a member of the Titans’ track & field team, was chosen through a voting process conducted by the CCIW Senior Woman Administrators and Faculty Athletics Representatives. She was chosen among a group of five other nominees including Augustana’s Anna Martines (track & field), Carthage’s Karen Chin (volleyball), North Central’s Madison Renfro (track & field), North Park’s Nicole Kruckman (basketball/softball) and Wheaton’s Kirsty Nitz (swimming).
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors senior female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.
 
Along with Harmon, Chin’s name was also submitted to the NCAA for national Woman of the Year consideration after she finished second in the conference voting. The NCAA allows for conferences to submit two nominees if one is a woman of color or ethnic minority.
 
Harmon, a native of St. Louis and Lindbergh High School, achieved a 3.59 grade-point average while majoring in Mathematics. She graduated Cum Laude and was part of the Dean’s List four times. Harmon earned College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District honors and was a United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic recipient in 2013, 2014 and 2015.  
 
Harmon earned five NCAA All-America honors in 2016 including three during the indoor season and two during the outdoor season. She was fourth in the indoor pentathlon (3,387 points), sixth in the indoor triple jump (11.80 meters), seventh in the 60-meter dash (8.88), third in the outdoor heptathlon (4,813 points) and third in the outdoor triple jump (12.44 meters). Her two third place finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championship helped earn the Titans their third national title in program history. Harmon was also an all-American in 2015 (fifth – indoor triple jump; fourth – outdoor triple jump; seventh – heptathlon) and 2014 (eighth – indoor triple jump). She was named the CCIW Field Athlete of the Meet at both the 2016 indoor and outdoor championships and is the school record holder in the indoor and outdoor triple jump and conference meet record holder in the heptathlon.
 
Harmon was Illinois Wesleyan’s 2016 CCIW Merle Chapman Leadership Award recipient for her work with the Titans’ Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC). She served as president in 2015-16 and as president, she helped organize Illinois Wesleyan’s student-athlete banquet The Tommy Awards and collected canned goods for local food pantries in the Titans’ Trick or Treat for Canned Goods event. She also served as treasurer of the Pi Mu Epsilon Math Honor Society, secretary for the Association for Women in Mathematics, and was a Titan orientation leader. She tutored middle school and high school students, was a math teaching assistant responsible for training tutors, a volleyball game day volunteer, and took part in the Race of the Cure.    
 
#NCAAWOTY #CCIWWOTY
 
CCIW Woman of the Year
2015-16 – Jill Harmon – Illinois Wesleyan (Track & Field)
2014-15 – Kelsey Graham – Wheaton (Soccer)
2013-14 – Lexi Baltes – Illinois Wesleyan (Basketball)
2012-13 – Elise Anderson – Illinois Wesleyan (Cross Country/Track & Field)
2011-12 – Lauren Knaack – Illinois Wesleyan (Soccer)
2010-11 – Elizabeth Ave Maria – Illinois Wesleyan (Cross Country/Track & Field)
2009-10 – Lindsey Haines – Illinois Wesleyan (Golf)
2008-09 – Nicole Spear – Illinois Wesleyan (Golf)
2007-08 – Sarah Richardson – Wheaton (Soccer)
2006-07 – Meghan Voiland – Augustana (Track & Field)
2005-06 – Melinda Sprague – Illinois Wesleyan (Cross Country/Track & Field)
 
Twitter & Instagram: @CCIW_Athletics

The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services eight member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2015-16 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,600 academic all-conference recipients, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 36 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and over 100 all-Americans.