Minnesota Morris' Laura Borkenhagen named UMAC nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year
ST. PAUL, Minn.---Each year the NCAA recognizes outstanding female student-athletes for achievement in the areas of academic, athletics, service and leadership with the Woman of the Year award. This year, the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) has selected Laura Borkenhagen from the University of Minnesota Morris as the conference’s nominee for the 2016 award, the UMAC office announced Wednesday.
Borkenhagen emerged from a pool of four strong female athletes – who were nominated by UMAC institutions for the honor – and will move on to represent the conference in the next stage. The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee will announce the top 10 nominees from each of the three divisions in August before the Committee on Women’s Athletics will select a winner on Oct. 16.
A native of Truman, Minnesota, Borkenhagen was a three-sport athlete at Minnesota Morris where she found four years of success with the cross country and track and field programs. She graduated in with honors in May boasting a 3.57 grade point average (GPA) while majoring in biology and anthropology.
On the cross country course, Borkenhagen was a three-time all-conference finisher placing in the top 15 at the UMAC Championships. During her time as a Cougar, the cross country team collected a team title in 2014 and three runner-up finishes at the conference meet. During her junior campaign, Borkenhagen finished fourth, while her sixth-place finish as a senior was the top placing by a Cougar runner in 2015.
Borkenhagen was just as impressive on the track earning at least one all-conference honor at each of the eight conference meets she competed in. This May, Borkenhagen helped lead the Cougars to their first UMAC Outdoor Championships title since 2004 – the senior star ran on both the 4 x 400-meter and 4 x 800-meter winning relay teams.
Over the course of four years, Borkenhagen was a member of four UMAC champion Distance Medley Relay teams – including the record-setting performance in 2016 – and three 4 x 800-meter relay-winning squads including a conference record win in 2015. At the 2016 Indoor Championships, Borkenhagen placed second in the mile run, while she finished second in the 1,500-meter run at the 2015 Outdoor Championships.
Following the conclusion of her academic and athletic career – a main requirement for nomination for the Woman of the Year honor – Borkenhagen was recognized with the 2016 Minnesota Morris Women’s Athlete Award which is given to the top student-athlete from the year.
Balancing the demands of captaining a collegiate team and the rigor of two academic programs gave Borkenhagen the confidence she needed to pursue a unique research project that led her to post-earthquake Nepal for a summer. Borkenhagen discovered her passion for global health while collecting life histories of women with the goal of revealing how reproductive health and sexualities are constructed, contested and maintained during and after a disaster.
“This was an incredible opportunity for me to learn and help others, and it would not have been possible without utilizing the skills I've gained from my participation in track and cross country,” said Borkenhagen in her nomination essay. “Athletics gave me the confidence to reach out to my professors and pursue research opportunities. It gave me the skills necessary to work as a team and be a leader. It’s also taught me discipline and perseverance.”
Borkenhagen’s determination to succeed shone brightly through her academic achievement at Minnesota Morris. She was selected to present research in June 2015 at the National American Society of Microbiology conference after completing internship work in microbiology. Additionally, Borkenhagen interned with zooarchaeology labs and spent three years working as a biology tutor for 10 hours a week each year.
This past year, Borkenhagen also worked as a Peer Assisted Learning facilitator for molecular biology and fundamentals of genetics which requires students to work closely with faculty, attend the class and lab they are supporting, and lead two tutoring sessions per week.
Academically, Borkenhagen was recognized for her outstanding commitment with the Scholar of the College award and the Sociology and Anthropology Book Award. She was also a dean’s list student and four-time Academic All-UMAC honoree. This spring, Borkenhagen was also a finalist for the UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award.
Borkenhagen displayed leadership in the Minnesota Morris campus and local communities during her time as a collegiate competitor boasting a healthy service resume. She spent three years as the off-campus coordinator with the University’s Lutheran campus ministry where she organized monthly service projects. Borkenhangen also dedicated time volunteering with Mayo Clinic, the Martin County Humane Society, BigFriend LittleFriend and Science Sensations – a program where she demonstrated science experiments to elementary students.
Following a successful undergraduate career, Borkenhagen plans to pursue her master’s degree in global health at Duke University. She hopes to extend her passion for global health to other communities and impact the reduction of health disparities and emerging disease concerns.
Brokenhagen was one of 141 conference honorees recognized by the NCAA Wednesday. Three other UMAC student-athletes were also among 515 honorees nominated by their institutions and recognized by the NCAA in the 26th year of the program. The four UMAC institutional nominees are listed below:
| Name |
Institution |
Sport(s) |
Hometown |
| Laura Borkenhagen |
University of Minnesota Morris |
Cross Country and Track and Field |
Truman, Minn. |
| Rachel Bostrom |
University of Nortwestern-St. Paul |
Tennis |
Forest Lake, Minn. |
| Jessica Klaustermeier |
Crown College |
Basketball |
Waconia, Minn. |
| Annalise Schroeder |
North Central University |
Cross Country |
Readfield, Wis. |
NCAA Woman of the Year Site
NCAA Conference Nominee Release
NCAA Institutional Nominee Release