Defiance's Johnston Selected as HCAC Woman of the Year

DEFIANCE, OH- Defiance College's Justine Johnston has been selected as the Woman of the Year in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and will be the league's nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

The award was created to honor senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence, service and leadership.

Johnston regularly excelled in each of those categories throughout her standout career at Defiance and wrapped up her collegiate career as one of the most decorated student-athletes in DC softball history. The Wauseon, Ohio, native was a four-time All-HCAC selection, claimed multiple all-region and Academic All-American accolades and led the Jackets to consecutive HCAC Tournament Championships and back-to-back NCAA Regional Final Four appearances during her four year tenure with the Purple and Gold.

Johnston owns a trio of career records at Defiance, topping all DC players with 66 victories, 79 complete games and 412 strikeouts.

Off the field, the early childhood education major posted a sparkling 3.83 cumulative grade-point average and took part in the team's numerous community service projects. During the 2008-2009 year alone, Johnston and the Jackets were given the Jostens/National Association of D-III Athletic Administrators Community Service Award, as well as the Volunteer Connection Lights of Defiance Award for accumulating over 800 hours of service with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Special Olympics of Ohio.

The nomination and selection process for this award is managed by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics. Each institution can nominate one female per year to their respective conference office. The conference then selects its representative to appear on the national ballot, where 10 honorees from each division will be chosen by the NCAA's selection committee. Those final 30 candidates will then be trimmed to a top three from each division, before the members of the CWA vote on the nine finalists to determine the 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Johnston will now appear on the national ballot as the HCAC's honoree and as one of 47 student-athletes to be selected from all of NCAA Division III. The NCAA's list of the top 10 honorees from each division will be announced later in August, with the nine finalists scheduled to be unveiled in September. The national winner will then be announced at the Woman of the Year Awards Dinner in Indianapolis on October 18.