PORTLAND, Ore. – The NCAA has announced former Central Washington University women's basketball guard Sunny Huerta has been announced as a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award which honors the top female student-athlete throughout the organization.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year Award was established in 1991 and is an annual award given to student-athletes who have completed their eligibility and who best exemplifies the four pillars of the award: academics, athletics, service, and leadership.
 
Huerta recently concluded a career that was one for the ages in GNAC women's basketball history. She holds 26 single-season top 10 marks and 16 career top-10 records, including: Most points in CWU history and second-most in GNAC history (1,960), Most made field goals also in GNAC history (714), Highest career three-point percentage (42.5%), Most games played (124), Most games started (116). Additionally, she holds the Great Northwest Athletic Conference record for most points scored in a single game (46 vs. Walla Walla on Dec. 21, 2022), a performance in which she also tied the CWU record for most field goals made in a game (18).
 
The reigning GNAC Player of the Year racked up the accolades as a three-time Unanimous First Team All-GNAC member, an Honorable Mention WBCA All-American as both a junior and senior, third team D2CCA All-American as a senior, D2CCA All-West Region honors, a three-time Academic All-GNAC honoree, and a CSC Academic All-District honoree while earning a 3.61 GPA in Social Services.
 
"I'm so happy for Sunny to be nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year," CWU Head Women's Basketball Coach Randi Richardson said. "During her time here at CWU she has worked incredibly hard in the classroom and on the court to achieve all that she has been able to achieve. However more importantly, while doing so, she has always embodied all the qualities of someone wearing a Wildcat uniform we could ever want. Sunny is just a wonderful human-being who has always been humble, selfless, kind, and extremely hard working. I have always been so impressed by her inner strength and determination to fight through challenges and I have no doubt she'll be able to accomplish anything she sets her mind to. Her consistency in all of these qualities over the last four years has had an incredible impact on our program and will continue to do so from here on out. I'm so proud that Sunny is a Wildcat, I'm so impressed by her and feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to coach her. She is very deserving of this recognition."

Joining Huerta as nominees representing the GNAC are:
 
Dyauni Boyce – Montana State Billings Women's Basketball
Amity Deters – Western Oregon Track & Field
Brooke Dexter – Simon Fraser Volleyball
Annika Esvelt – Seattle Pacific Cross Country and Track & Field
Kendall Kramer – Alaska Fairbanks Cross Country
Katie Potts – Western Washington Track & Field
Jocelyn Saribay – Saint Martin's Track & Field
 
Next, conferences will select up to two nominees from their pool of nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee will then choose 10 women from each division to make up the Top 30 to be announced in October.
 
The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division announced in November, and the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will determine the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year. The Woman of the Year will be celebrated at the 2026 NCAA Convention in January.
 
View the full GNAC release HERE