ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Recently graduated Augustana women's track & field standout Annie Martines (St. Charles East HS, St. Charles, Ill.) has been nominated for the NCAA's "Woman of the Year" honor.  A total of 517 student-athletes have been nominated for the 2016 "Woman of the Year" award across all NCAA Divisions.
 
Martines enjoyed quite a career as a sprinter/hurdler for the Vikings. She was a two-time team captain who was voted the team's Most Valuable Performer following both her junior and senior seasons. She was a place winner in the CCIW championships eight times during her career indoors and 11 times outdoors. Her best finishes in the CCIW were second places in the 400 intermediate hurdles both as a junior in 2015 and as a senior in 2016. She was a two-time NCAA Division III national meet qualifier in the 400 hurdles and she has the second fastest time in Augustana history in that event at 1:01.84.
 
During the past indoor season Martines was fifth in the CCIW Indoor Championships as a member of the 4x400 relay and was seventh in the 60 hurdles in :09.74. During the outdoor campaign she finished second at the CCIW Championships (1:02.48) for the Vikings in the 400 hurdles and was third in the 4x400 relay and fourth in the 100 hurdles. Martines earned herself a bid to the NCAA Championships where she finished 19^th in the 400 hurdles (1:03.59).
 
A year ago Martines was the CCIW's "Athlete of the Week" on March 24 and her teammates voted her the Erica Vortman Spirit Award winner. In 2013 she was the MVP – Freshman in indoor and outdoor track & field.
 
She served as a special events intern for the Quad City Chamber of Commerce beginning in April of 2015. She currently works for the Augustana clinical internship program for the Center for Speech, Language and hearing. Martines is also on the executive board of the Office of Student Life and she serves as both a student-athlete recruiting coordinator and a peer leadership mentor.
 
Anna, the daughter of Bob and Cheryl Martines of St. Charles, Illinois, carries a 3.66 grade point average and is a communication sciences and disorders major at Augustana.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
 
This pool of school honorees marks the largest in the 26-year history of the award. Of the nominees for the national award, 231 competed in Division I, 117 competed in Division II and 169 competed in Division III athletics. The nominees also represent 21 different women's sports, and 127 of the nominees competed in more than one sport in college.
 
The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.