Wesleyan University

        Brittany Allen, who just graduated from Wesleyan University this past May and is a resident of Madison, Wisc., was named one of 52 state winners of the prestigious NCAA Women of the Year Award, it was announced today.
        Each of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico is represented among the 52 winners of the award which goes to outstanding female student-athletes who have completed their athletic eligibility and have excelled in academics, athletics and community leadership. From the 52 state winners, 10 will be named as finalists with the national winner honored at an awards banquet in Indianapolis, Ind. October 31.
        Allen was a team co-captain of both cross country and track at Wesleyan in her senior year. Over her four seasons with cross country, she finished among Wesleyan's scoring five in 25 of 26 meets and attended the NCAA Division III Championships as part of the Wesleyan qualifying team of 2002, placing 114th nationally in a field of 215 runners. She was consistently named to the NCAA Cross Country Academic All-America team for a GPA above 3.5 and has been named academic all-NESCAC in both cross country and track. As a track performer, Allen handled mainly middle-distance events (800m, 1500m) and qualified for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships 800m event in 2002 with a career-best time of 2:17.93. She is part of Wesleyan's team-record setting 4x400m and 4x800m relays outdoors.

Allen held a major in both women's studies and the Science in Society Program, was one of just a dozen seniors voted Phi Beta Kappa during the fall of 2003 and was one of just four members of the class of 2004 to graduate with University honors, the highest level of academic accomplishment at Wesleyan.
Allen was the female recipient of Wesleyan's Roger Maynard Memorial Award as the top senior scholar-athlete at the college. She is the second Wesleyan woman to receive a state honor as NCAA Woman of the Year in the last five years. In 1999, Emily Rauscher '99, an honorable-mention All-America swimmer, was the Connecticut state winner of the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

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