Coiurtesy of Morgan State Athletic Communications
BALTIMORE, Md., Aug. 17, 2021 -- Stephanie Rundlett is one of 154 female college athletes, who have been named as conference-level nominees for the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year award, as announced by the NCAA Office on Monday in Indianapolis, Ind.
Rundlett graduated in 2020 from Morgan State with a degree in physical education on the pre-professional physical therapy track with a 3.35 GPA, and will finish up her Master's degree in business administration in December of 2021.
Rundlett, who earlier this year was the 2021 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Woman of the Year runner-up, was also one of 535 school nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Playing as a graduate student, Rundlett, helped Morgan State capture its first MEAC championship this past May and advance to the program's first NCAA Regional appearance.
A native of York, Maine, Rundlett, who was a second-team All-MEAC selection this season, appeared in all three games during the MEAC Tournament, making one start and finished with an unblemished 3-0 record. She ended the weekend with an ERA of 1.35 and 12 strikeouts in 10.1 innings of work, while surrendering three runs on nine hits and no walks to earn MEAC All-Tournament honors.
Nine of her strikeouts would come against North Carolina Central. In the tournament opener against the Eagles, Rundlett got the start and struck out five batters in 4.1 innings to secure her 40th career victory at Morgan State, following a 4-3 win. In the championship game against NCCU, she totaled four more strikeouts against the Eagles in 2.2 innings of relief to earn her sixth consecutive win of the season.
In her final season wearing the orange and blue, Rundlett led the team in wins with 12 and had a season-best six-game winning streak. She appeared in 24 games, making 20 starts and pitched a team-tying six complete games and recorded a save. Rundlett finished the season with a team-best 83 strikeouts in a team-high 98.2 innings pitched.
Her 12 victories led the MEAC in wins and she ranked amongst MEAC leaders in appearances (2nd), batters struck out looking (2nd), games started (3rd), total strikeouts (3rd), saves (tied-3rd) and innings pitched (5th).
She concluded her career appearing in 95 games with 77 starts. She recorded 42 victories with 33 complete games and four saves, while throwing 294 strikeouts in 437.2 innings of work.
Rundlett was a four-time MEAC Softball All-Academic and MEAC Commissioner's All-Academic Team selection, an All-MEAC second and third team honoree, a four-time MEAC Pitcher of the Week and a College Sports Madness MEAC Player of the Week selection.
Rundlett has volunteered a lot of her time working at physical therapy clinics and has even volunteered at hospitals too. She's also spent time assisting with softball teams when she lived in Maine and is getting into volunteering and possibly even coaching where she currently lives in Texas.
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 represent student-athletes from 18 different sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 58 from Division I, 36 from Division II and 60 from Division III.
Conferences can recognize two nominees if at least one is a woman of color or international student-athlete. All nominees who compete in a sport not sponsored by their school's primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, were placed in a separate pool to be considered by a selection committee. Three nominees from the pool were selected to move forward in the process with the conference nominees.
The Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will now choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division — from the conference-level nominees. The Top 30 honorees will be announced in September. The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the nine finalists will be announced this fall. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then will choose the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year.