Photo: Doreen Madalian
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Nine former college athletes have been selected as finalists for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Among those finalists is West Chester University 2020 graduate Juah Toe (York, Pa./Central York).
RELATED: West Chester Recruits With Culture The nine finalists, three women from each NCAA division, were selected for their outstanding achievements in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. Toe is the first student-athlete from West Chester University to be named a finalist for the award. Last year, former field hockey standout, Kaitlin Hatch, was a semifinalist (Top 30).
Photo: Doreen Madalian
Finalists were chosen from the Top 30 Woman of the Year honorees, who represent 10 honorees from each division and 14 sports, including two emerging sports. In 2020, schools nominated 605 graduating female student-athletes for this prestigious award.
RELATED: 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year: Finalists Announcement (Video)
The finalists and Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced during a virtual awards show on Friday, November 13. The show will be streamed on the NCAA Twitter account and ncaa.org/woty, and it will be streamed by ESPN. Following is the biography of West Chester University’s Juah Toe, who is currently enrolled in grad school at UNC-Greensboro.
Photo: Doreen Madalian
JUAH TOESchool: West Chester University of PennsylvaniaConference: IndependentSport: RugbyMajor: PsychologyHometown: York, Pennsylvania “With the help of rugby, I have grown as a person and a player. Finding my own strength in the sport has given me the opportunity to lead women in revealing their own strengths, mentally and physically.” Former West Chester flanker and two-year team captain Juah Toe led the women’s rugby team to the 2019 National Intercollegiate Rugby Association Tier II Championship title. She was a semifinalist for the 2020 MA Sorensen Award, presented annually to the nation’s top women’s rugby player, and earned honorable mention NIRA All-America recognition in 2018. Toe received NIRA All-Academic Team honors in 2020 and 2019. She was selected as a 2019 recipient of the West Chester 1871 Award for high achievement in academics and co-curricular activities, serving on the award selection committee the following year, and was a semifinalist for the 2019 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award.
Photo: Doreen Madalian
A two-year member of the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, she served as 2019-20 vice president, and was a two-year member of the Abbe Society honorary women’s service organization. Toe was heavily involved in the West Chester Honors College and Honors Student Association, including serving as the sports and recreation director for two years and as a student leader at the 2018 Honors College Student Symposium. She also traveled to South Africa in 2018 and 2019 for Honors College study-abroad research and service-learning trips, during which she volunteered at a soup kitchen and a hospice for mothers and children with HIV/AIDS.