ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Allison Kosobud had a senior season that every collegiate student-athlete dreams of.
 
In her final season with the College of Saint Benedict cross country team she ran personal bests in both the 5K and 6K races, and earned All-MIAC and All-Central Region honors. During the track and field season, Kosobud won a pair of conference titles, all-region honors and qualified for both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships, and earned All-American honors at the national indoor championships. She also earned Academic All-MIAC honors in all three sports, as well as a spot on the prestigious CoSIDA Academic All-America team. Now, Kosobud has one more accolade to add to her ever-growing resume.
 
This week, it was announced that Kosobud – a Brainerd, Minn., native – received the MIAC's 2017 nomination for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. She is the second CSB student-athlete in four to move on to the conference level as Colleen Bouchard '14 was one of the 2014 NCAA Top 30 honorees for the Woman of the Year award.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year award, which is in its 27^th season in 2017, honors senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence, service and leadership. Kosobud – who has made an impact for both CSB's cross country and track and field teams while also maintaining an impressive GPA since her first season – was selected from an impressive pool of candidates by the MIAC's Senior Woman Administrators and Management Committee thanks to her excellence in each of those three areas.
 
Balancing three sports and being in season all year long with academics and school projects, as well as studying abroad and spending time with her mentee through Big Brothers Big Sisters, could take its toll on a student-athlete. Instead, Kosobud – an Integrative Health Science major – wrote in her personal statement in the NCAA Woman of the Year nomination process that not having to choose to focus on one of the three aspects of her life is what helped to make her so successful.
 
"Balance is important as a runner. I believe this idea of balance is necessary in life, too, and Saint Benedict has allowed me to achieve just that," she said. "This school has taken me as I am, and developed me as a whole person. I have grown in confidence as I learned to lead discussions in the classroom, and I have learned the important of commitment as I ran laps and laps around the track. I did not have to partition off parts of my life in order to participate in everything I wanted to do, and I did not feel limited in my options because of being in sports. Rather, I had even more opportunities as a result."
 
Kosobud showed off her potential in her first season at CSB. After finishing in the top 35 to wrap up her first cross country season at CSB, she won the 800- and 1,000-meter runs at the 2014 MIAC Indoor Championships and set school records in the 800, 1,000 and mile. That indoor season, she took 12^th with the distance medley relay team and took 14^th in the 800 at the NCAA Indoor Championships. During her first outdoor track and field season at CSB, Kosobud finished 19^th in the 800 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and set the school record in the 800 that season. Following her first season, she was named the 2013 CSB Rookie of the Year by coaches and athletic staff.
 
Kosobud missed her sophomore cross country season due to injury, but she came back in time for track and field season and earned All-MIAC honors in the 800 during the indoor season and was part of CSB's 3,200-meter relay team that won the MIAC title at the outdoor championships. Kosobud also missed cross country her junior year as she studied abroad in Greece and Rome, but she came back and qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1,500-meter run, where she went in seeded 22^nd but finished 17^th. That outdoor season she broke her own school record in the 800, and also set the school record in the 1,500.
 
Once her senior cross country season started, it was clear that Kosobud had saved the best for last. She earned All-MIAC cross country honors for the first time after taking 10^th at the conference meet, and later took 28^th at the NCAA Central Region meet to earn All-Region accolades. She finished in the top 30 at all seven meets she competed in, and ran the seventh-best 5K and 6K time in CSB history over the course of the season.
 
Kosobud's track season was even better. She won the MIAC 1,000-meter title at the indoor championships and took second in the 800. She qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 800, and took fifth to earn All-American honors for the first time. During the outdoor season, Kosobud won the MIAC 800-meter title, and set the school record for the third time. She wrapped up her career with a 12^th-place finish in the 800 at the outdoor national championships. She finished her career a four-time MIAC title winner, five-time national qualifier, nine-time All-MIAC athlete and six-time All-Region honoree. She holds seven CSB track and field records.
 
As well as excelling on the track, Kosobud also had a stellar collegiate career in the classroom. She became the first CSB track and field athlete to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors since 1996 this spring for maintaining a 3.90 GPA this season. She was a Trustee Scholar, which indicates the highest merit scholarship a student can receive at CSB, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 2017. Kosobud was a member of the Dean's List all eight semesters of her college career, and earned USTFCCCA academic honors each of her four years with both the cross country and track and field teams. She also earned Academic All-MIAC honors in cross country and both indoor and outdoor track and field all three seasons she was eligible.
 
As if setting school records and maintaining a 3.90 GPA wasn't enough, Kosobud also found time to volunteer. She served as a mentor for a young child in St. Cloud through Big Brothers Big Sisters for four years and was the director of the Dream Team, a sleep advocacy group on campus. She served as president of the Honors Planning and Advisory Council at CSB|SJU, was a member of CSB's SAAC, volunteered at the Boy's and Girl's Club and NICU Sanford, among others.
 
In order to be eligible for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, nominees must have completed their intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end of the 2016-17 competitive season and received her undergraduate degree prior to the conclusion of the summer 2017 term, and have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale.
 
All conference nominees – Kosobud included - will be forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee. This year, a record pool of 543 women were nominated by their colleges and universities for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
In early September, the Woman of the Year selection committee will name the Top 30 honorees, representing the top 10 women in each division. The selection committee will then choose and announce the nine finalists, with three from each division, at the end of September. Then, from the pool of nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will determine the 2017 Woman of the Year. The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual banquet Oct. 22 in Indianapolis. The NCAA Woman of the Year program has recognized graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership since its inception in 1991.
Kosobud was one of 10 extremely deserving nominees to emerge from the MIAC, all nominated by their institution for their outstanding collegiate careers in athletics, academics, leadership and service. Other nominees included Augsburg College's Taybri Irving (cross country/track and field) and Emily Gregg (soccer); Bethel University's Carlee Hoppe (volleyball); Hamline University's Mary-Clare Couillard (softball); Macalester College's Kimber Meyer (cross country/track and field); St. Catherine University's Jenna Nagy (swimming and diving); Saint Mary's University's Emma Schaefer (basketball/soccer) and the University of St. Thomas' Emma Paulson (swimming and diving). Fans can congratulate Steinke and the other nominees on social media using the hashtag #NCAAWOTY.