University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass' Hilliard Nominated For NCAA Woman Of The Year
June 20, 2015 | Women's Track & Field
AMHERST, Mass. - Rachel Hilliard, a 2015 graduate and four-year member of the UMass women's cross country/track & field programs, is one of 480 female student-athletes nominated for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year award. In its 25th year, the 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.
Hilliard is one of 207 nominees from Division I programs and one of 11 candidates from the Atlantic 10. From the initial list, conferences assess each nominee's eligibility and select up to two conference nominees. All conference nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee, which chooses the top 30 honorees - 10 from each division.
From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three nominees from each division and announces the top nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year. The 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced, and the Top 30 honorees celebrated, at the annual award ceremony Oct. 18 in Indianapolis.
Since earning her degree this May, Hilliard has been named the recipient of an Atlantic 10 Postgraduate Scholarship and was selected to both the A-10 Women's Outdoor Track and Field Academic All-Conference team and the Capital One Academic All-District 1 Track and Field/Cross Country team.
Hilliard, a double major in biology and English, posted a 3.99 cumulative grade-point average as an undergraduate and will continue her academic career this fall in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell.
In her four years with the Minutewomen, she was a four-time A-10 Academic All-Conference recipient for cross country and track & field and was on the A-10 Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll for all four years at UMass. Hilliard earned the Athletic Director's 4.0 Award all four years and was a University Dean's List student all eight semesters. The Hookstown, Pa., native was a member of Commonwealth Honors College and was a two-time Commonwealth Honors College Research Fellowship Awardee.
Last fall she earned her first career Atlantic 10 All-Conference nod after finishing seventh at the 2014 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships. During the 2015 indoor season, Hilliard took third in the women's one-mile run at the Atlantic 10 Championships with a time of 5-minutes, 0.27-seconds and also competed in the distance medley relay that finished fourth overall in 11-minutes, 53.15-seconds, while also scoring in the 3,000-meter run at the conference meet, finishing in eighth place.
During the 2015 outdoor season, she scored in two events at the Atlantic 10 Championships, taking sixth in both the 1500-meter run and the 4x80-meter relay. She capped off her career with a personal record in the 1500-meter run at the ECAC Championships, which ranks her fourth all-time in the UMass record book.
Hilliard was a five-time UMass Athlete of the Week and was tabbed UMass' Female Fall Scholar-Athlete for cross country in 2014 and UMass' Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2014-15. She has served as a member of the UMass Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and volunteers at local elementary schools. Hilliard has volunteered over summer breaks at a therapeutic riding stable called Horses with Hope, as well.