University of Minnesota Duluth's Makenzie Morgen is among 148 student-athletes chosen by NCAA conferences and a selection committee as nominees for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The women were selected from a pool of 585 school nominees.
 
The nominees represent college athletes from 20 sports spanning all three NCAA divisions, including 33 competed from the Division II ranks. Nominees competing in a sport not sponsored by their school's core conference were placed in a separate pool to be considered by a selection committee. Up to four independent nominees could be selected to move forward in the process with the conference nominees.
 
The Top 30 honorees, comprising 10 women from each division, will be named by the Woman of the Year selection committee in September. The selection committee will then narrow the pool to nine finalists — with three from each division — in early October. From those finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2019 Woman of the Year.

The 2019 Woman of the Year will be named, and the Top 30 honorees will be celebrated, at the annual banquet Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.

A native of Appleton, Wis., Morgen put the wraps on her stellar Bulldog volleyball career last fall by attaining CoSIDA Academic All-American honors for the second time in as many years (first team in 2018 and third team in 2017).  She graduated from UMD this past May with a B.S. Degree in biology while compiling a 3.969 cumulative grade point average. Morgen, who was a Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award and NSIC Butch Raymond Scholarship recipient for 2018-19, also earned the NSIC Elite 18 Award for volleyball as  a senior and junior. This past season, she captained the Bulldogs to both the regular season and tournament titles en route to being bestowed with All-NSIC first team recognition (after landing a spot on the second team in each of the previous two seasons). Morgen, who transferred to UMD from NCAA I University of Maryland-Baltimore County in 2016, paced the 2018 Bulldogs in kills (a career-high 342) and ranked second in digs per set at 2.88. During the course of the her senior season, she became the 21st member of UMD's 1,000 kill club, eventually finishing with 1,063 kills and 952 digs while averaging 3.52 points per set. Morgen is also a two-time Shjoin Podein Community Service Award finalist.
 
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.