INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., June 26, 2019--Damali Young is one of a record 585 female college athletes who have been nominated by NCAA member schools for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award, as announced by the NCAA Office on Wednesday.
Young, who graduated this past May with a 3.59 GPA in Construction Management, was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Woman of the Year on June 18, thus becoming the first from Morgan State to receive the honor.
A native of Westampton, N.J., Young was the 2019 MEAC Player of the Year and an All-MEAC first team selection after ranking top five in the conference in slugging percentage (.564), on-base percentage (.462), runs scored (47), hits (49), total bases (79), triples (4), walks (28) and stolen bases (31). She was 14th in the NCAA in stolen bases and 36th in runs per game.
The two-time first-team All-MEAC selection also garnered HBCU Division I Player of the Year honors for this past season. She would help the Lady Bears to the program's third straight 20-plus win season (22-24), while breaking four school records and tying another one.
Young concluded her career holding 10 program records – including career hits, career runs scored, career walks, career stolen bases, single-season hits, single-season runs, single-season doubles, single-season at bats, single-season stolen bases and single-season walks.
In the community, Young has given time and blood to Gift of Life, a service where DNA and blood are put in a database so that if needed, the donor can be contacted to help save a life. In addition, if the donor's samples match, the result can be a much-needed transfusion or organ transplant.
In addition, Young has donated money and toys to the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) for animals that live in the shelter. She is also an advocate for Tiny Superheroes, an organization that raises money for ill and disabled children.
Young has also volunteered during Barton Malow Community Week, helping restore corridors in a downtown Inner Harbor building in Baltimore called Living Classrooms for inner-city children. She also spent that week helping prepare food for the less fortunate as part of Movable Feasts.
During her senior year Young was and is still hard at work at Barton Malow on the construction of the new Calvin and Tina Tyler Hall building on the Morgan State campus, which is slated to open in 2020.
Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
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.
The nominees competed in 23 different sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 262 from Division I, 131 from Division II and 192 from Division III. Multisport student-athletes account for 144 of the nominees.
Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division.
The selection committee will determine the top three honorees from each division from the Top 30 and announce the nine finalists in September. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then will choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual award ceremony Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.