Castleton's Bombardier Tabbed 2015-16 NAC Woman of the Year

Castleton's Bombardier Tabbed 2015-16 NAC Woman of the Year

Castleton's Bombardier Tabbed 2015-16 NAC Woman of the Year

The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is pleased to announce that Rachel Bombardier (Pittsford, Vt.) of Castleton University has been selected as the winner of its Woman of the Year award in a vote of the league's Athletics Directors and Senior Woman Administrators.

A dual-sport standout in women's ice hockey and women's lacrosse for the Spartans, Bombardier will be presented the award at a to-be-determined date during the 2016-17 academic year. The NAC Woman of the Year is also nominated as the conference honoree for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. For the NCAA release, please click HERE.

"Rachel is certainly an outstanding choice for the NAC Woman of the Year honor and an excellent nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award," said NAC Commissioner Marcella Zalot. "She has seen great success as both a student and an athlete, helping lead the Spartans to three NAC titles and two ECAC East Runner-Up seasons, while also maintaining a notable work ethic in the classroom. It is quite impressive to see Rachel end her career as both a CoSIDA Academic All-American selection and as the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Division III Scholar-Athlete of the Year." 

Bombardier, the fourth Spartan woman to win the award in the last five years, was a standout in the rink, on the field and in the classroom at Castleton. The 2016 NAC Women's Lacrosse Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year, was a three-year letter winner and was a two-time All-NAC honoree at goalkeeper, prior to making the switch to defense her senior year, in which she collected 20 ground balls, 11 draw controls, and caused 10 turnovers. She was a part of three NAC Women's Lacrosse Championship Title teams and made three NCAA tournament appearances. She lettered in women's hockey all four years of her undergraduate career and saw her team earn ECAC East Runner-Up in both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. 

"Rachel is an incredible woman and she has left an indelible mark on Castleton University," said Castleton Head Women's Lacrosse Coach Hannah Corkery Collins. "She is resilient, intelligent, capable, and exceptionally driven. Rachel has the ability to make everyone around her better. She has set the bar high for herself and as a result has risen the standard for all. I am proud to have coached Rachel at Castleton and think she is very deserving of being NAC Woman of the Year."

Bombardier is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree and was most recently honored as a CoSIDA Academic All-American (at-large selection) and as the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Division III Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She has also earned All-Academic honors from the ECAC, NAC, NEHC and the IWLCA throughout her career. 

Castleton Associate Dean for Athletics and Recreation, Deanna Tyson, added, "Rachel has proven herself to be an outstanding two-sport student-athlete at Castleton, making an impact on the field of play and in the classroom, and has always represented herself, her team, and her college in a very positive way. She has shown tremendous leadership with not just her teammates but within the community as well."

In the classroom, the dual-sport student-athlete was a Heath Science major and minored in Statistics. She most recently entered into a 12-month Master's program in Medical Science at the University of Vermont. This past year, she was honored with the Academic Excellence award in Natural Science and Exercise Science, she received the Sharon Brown Memorial Award (given to one standout female student-athlete showing leadership & dedication to community), she was inducted into the Sigma Zeta National Science & Mathematics Honor Society, and was named best in Biochemistry for demonstrating excellence in Biochemistry. Honored on the Presidents List all four years of her career, Bombardier has served as an EMT, as an organic chemistry and math clinic tutor, as a teaching assistant for Organic Chemistry Lab, and on the Castleton Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

The NAC Woman of the Year award is modeled after the NCAA's Woman of the Year program, which honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. To view the complete list of NAC Woman of the Year nominees for 2015-16, please click HERE.

NCAA member schools nominated a total of 517 student-athletes for the 2016 Woman of the Year award. Bombardier is one of only 40 multisport student-athletes out of the 142 total NCAA female-student-athletes (51 in Division III) that have been named 2016 Woman of the Year honorees by conferences and independent schools. 

The Woman of the Year selection committee will next select the top 10 honorees in each division. These top 30 honorees will be announced in early September. The selection committee will then choose and announce the top nine finalists (three from each division) at the end of September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from amongst those nine finalists to determine the 2016 Woman of the Year who will be named at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 16.