INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Five-time All-Summit League track and field standout Erica Benson has been selected as North Dakota's nominee for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the NCAA announced on Thursday.
Benson is among 577 candidates across all three NCAA divisions nominated for this year's honor (including 248 from Division I institutions), which has been presented annually since 1991 and recognizes the nation's top senior female student-athlete who has excelled in the award's four pillars of academics, athletics, service and leadership.
As 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, this year's NCAA Woman of the Year award provides an important opportunity to honor incredible women and reflect on the impact of women on intercollegiate sports.
"Erica embodies what it is to be both a student and athlete," said Athletic Director Bill Chaves. "She has performed tremendously high in athletic competition, the classroom and community."
This indoor season alone, Benson finished as the runner-up in the pentathlon at the Summit League Indoor Championships to capture All-Summit League accolades, recording the No. 2 point total in school history in the event with 3,712 points. The Mankato, Minn., native also was part of the 4x400-meter relay team that posted the No. 9 time in program history to place sixth with a time of 3:54.40 at the conference meet. Benson concluded her stay at the Summit League Indoor Championships with a seventh-place finish in the high jump with a clearance of 5-3 (1.60m). At the end of the indoor season, Benson was named to the Indoor Academic All-Summit League Team.
During the outdoor season, Benson took fourth in the heptathlon at the Summit League Outdoor Championships with 4,884 points and recorded a personal-best point total of 5,020 at the Bryan Clay Invitational, good for the No. 3 heptathlon total in UND history. She also helped the North Dakota heptathlon team finish the season ranked No. 2 in the USTFCCCA #EventSquad Rankings, the best any group at UND has ever ranked at the end of the season in the standings.
Not only did Benson have an impressive showing as a combined events athlete in 2022, but she has made a positive impact on the UND track and field program throughout her career, earning spots on the Indoor All-Summit League team on three occasions (2019 – third in pentathlon, 2021 – runner-up in pentathlon, 2022 – runner-up in pentathlon) and on the Outdoor All-Summit League team twice (2019 – third in high jump, 2021 – runner-up in heptathlon). The impressive career for Benson also shows on the UND top-10 list, where her name appears six times. Benson earned the Female Unsung Hero Award at UND's 2022 Night of Champions.
Along with her impressive athletic performances, Benson has also excelled in the classroom and was named to the 2022 Indoor Academic All-Summit League Team, 2018 Indoor All-Big Sky Team and 2018 Outdoor All-Big Sky Team. Most recently, Benson was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team for the 2022 season.
Benson graduated from the University of North Dakota in December (2021) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and a minor in psychology. While completing her degree, Benson was on the frontline during the pandemic and spent time administering COVID-19 vaccines to members of the community. Currently, Benson is working as a Registered Nurse in the intensive care unit at Mayo Clinic hospital in Mankato, Minn. After gaining critical care experience at the Mayo Clinic, Benson plans to get involved with travel nursing with the possibility of pursuing a master's degree.
Throughout her time at UND, Benson has enjoyed mentorship opportunities, especially ones that involve working with kids. While at North Dakota, she has participated in the pen pal program which involved writing pen pal letters to elementary aged students, the Halloween Bash and also worked at the Grand Forks Marathon.
All NCAA Woman of the Year nominations will now advance to their respective conference offices, where the league offices will select their nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year. Each conference nominee will be notified by the NCAA, and all conference-round nominees will be announced in August.
Conference nominations are then forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee, which identifies the top 10 honorees for each of the three NCAA divisions. From those 30 honorees, the selection committee determines the top three finalists in each division for a total of nine finalists. The Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year from the nine finalists later in the Fall.
