Indianapolis Ind. — The National Collegiate Athletic Association has narrowed down its pool of nominees for its 2024 Woman of the Year award, and recent women's soccer graduate Morgan Salmon has earned her spot in the top 30. 

Salmon becomes the fourth Adelphi student-athlete to be named a top 30 honoree, following Jackie Brown '22, Alison Johnson '21 and Chelsea Abreu '19. 

Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award is rooted in Title IX and recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their NCAA eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.  

Salmon was the 2023 Northeast-10 defensive player of the year while also being named first team all-conference, academic all-conference and earning the conference's sport excellence award. She was also named to the NCAA Division II all-tournament team, United Soccer Coaches all-region first team, D2CCA all-region first team, United Soccer Coaches all-America second team and the D2CCA all-America second team. 

The West Hempstead, N.Y. native not only excelled on the field but off it as well as she was named a 2023 CSC first team academic all-American as well as being named academic all-conference. Salmon earned academic excellence on the NE10 academic honor roll three times and was twice named a D2ADA academic achievement award honoree.  She was named one of Adelphi's scholar-athletes of the year in 2024 after not only leading the 'Cats to the Division II final four but also accumulating a 3.854 cumulative grade-point-average while pursuing a nursing degree. 

In June, Salmon became the fifth-ever Adelphi recipient of the NE10 Woman of the Year award. The former women's soccer captain was recognized for her play, but also for her dedication to Adelphi's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the university's Morgan's Message chapter and TOPSoccer, a community based program in West Hempstead that helps young athletes with disabilities. 

"We are incredibly proud of Morgan and appreciate that her efforts, above and beyond being an athlete, are being recognized at one of the highest levels," associate athletic director for external relations/senior woman administrator Emily Dorko said. "For her to join the ranks of Alison Johnson, Chelsea Abreu and Jackie Brown by reaching the top-30, it's truly a testament to the type of student-athletes we have at Adelphi."

Selected from a record-breaking 627 nominees submitted by member schools — a group that was then narrowed to 168 nominees at the conference level — the Top 30 honorees include 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions. Each honoree has demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. The honorees represent 15 sports, including three student-athletes representing NCAA Emerging Sports for Women. They have a variety of majors, including cell and molecular biology, neuroscience, biochemistry, civil engineering, sociology, nursing, computer science, sport management and more

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 will choose the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year to be announced at the NCAA Convention on Jan. 14 in Nashville.