RUNAWAY MCBRIDE
On Oct. 17 at the Indiana Convention Center, nine female student-athletes will gather as finalists for one of the most prestigious awards a collegiate athlete can receive. Former University of Indianapolis student and golfer Lyndsay McBride is one of those women.
McBride has been nominated to receive the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The award is given annually to graduating female athletes who give outstanding performances athletically, academically and in the community.
“The Woman of the Year Award uniquely gives us the opportunity to honor a group of outstanding female student-athletes who perform at high levels in collegiate athletics while also making significant contributions to their communities and achieving remarkable academic success,” said Karen Morrison, NCAA director of gender initiatives, in an NCAA press release.
McBride’s resume includes being named the 2010 GLVC Women’s Golfer of the Year and the 2009 NCAA Division II individual women’s golf national champion. McBride also excelled academically and helped co-found a not-for-profit scholarship program overseas.
“If you look at Lyndsay McBride, she’s excelled at all three levels,” said Athletics Director and Associate Professor of Kinesiology Sue Willey.
Along with the Golfer of the Year honor and the 2009 national championship, McBride won three tournaments her senior year, setting the school record for the lowest single-season scoring average at 76.0. The Greyhounds made two trips to the NCAA championships during her career at UIndy, and she was named as a National Golf Coaches Association All-American twice.
“I improved ten-fold in college, and before I went to college, I never thought I would continue on to try to go pro,” McBride said.
Academically, McBride was a double major in visual communication design and fine arts. The area of art that she focused on was assemblage, the art of putting together found objects in a three-dimensional composition.
The art department continues to displays her artwork. She also graduated with a 3.84 GPA.
She won two straight GLVC Women’s Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards. She was a National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar four times, and her contributions helped the Greyhounds, earn the top GPA in women’s golf in all divisions of collegiate play.
“The educational part took a lot of time to do what I needed to do,” McBride said. “I went through a couple of breakdowns, but you get back on your feet and keep going.”
One aspect of the NCAA Woman of the Year Award is a nominee’s contributions to the community. McBride co-founded an international non-profit organization, Inches International, with her former roommate Lydia Fischer. Its purpose is to raise money for scholarships to support schools and hospitals in Africa, primarily Sierra Leone and Liberia. This community service work helped McBride get to where she is in terms of the award.
“We have a lot of good athletes, we have a lot of good students, and we have a lot of good student-athletes,” Willey said. “It is really when you get to the [community] service, how far do they take that?”
Now that McBride has graduated, she will shift her focus to her golf career. On Nov. 2, she will travel to Florida to attempt to qualify for the LPGA Future’s Tour. First, she will be in attendance in Indianapolis to see if she receives the Woman of the Year Award.
Since its existence in 1991, no Division II student-athlete has won the award. A collegiate athlete is nominated by her respective conference in every division of the NCAA.
McBride was the GLVC’s representative, including nominees from 452 other conferences in all of Division I, II and III. The NCAA narrowed the field to 10 women, to bring the number of honorees to 30. Now the field has been reduced to nine, with three athletes in each division.
McBride isn’t the only Greyhound to make it this far. Megan Grunert, a three-time academic All-American swimmer, was a finalist in 2004. Willey calls the award the premier award for a female college athlete.
“It’s just exciting to see one of our athletes recognized in front of a national crowd,” Willey said.
McBride said that winning the award would be great, but she’s just happy to be one of the few who have been recognized as a finalist.
“Being able to be recognized, not just for athletics, not just for academics, but also community service…even being nominated by the school was huge for me,” McBride said. “I’m overwhelmed by the fact that someone recognized that there was this award and that I would be a good fit for it.”
The award ceremony will be held at the Indiana Convention Center on Oct. 17 in Indianapolis.
