INDIANAPOLIS -- Former University of South Alabama track & field student-athlete Kaitlyn Beans is one of two women to be nominated by the Sun Belt Conference for the 2017 NCAA Women of the Year Award, as announced by the NCAA on Tuesday. Beans joins Haley Haden from the Louisiana-Lafayette as the other nomination from the Sun Belt Conference.
The NCAA Women of the Year award looks at four pillars in regards to student-athletes who are nominated: academics, athletics, service and leadership. There were 145 conference nominees this year. Of the 145 nominees; 53 are from Division III, 34 are from Division II and Beans is one of 58 honorees from Division I schools.