The Big 12 Conference has nominated Sune Agbuke (Baylor) and Madison Stein (Kansas) for 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. A record 147 NCAA female-student-athletes have been named 2015 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 2015 Woman of the Year.
The top 30 honorees will be honored and the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on October 18. Former Texas Tech track and field student-athlete Ifeatu Okafor earned the prestigious honor in 2013.
Agbuke graduated from Baylor in three years and spent her senior season as a first-year student in the nationally-recognized Baylor Law School. Her first year at Baylor Law coincided with her second as a starter for the Lady Bears, and the squad’s lone senior responded by leading the team to a fourth consecutive sweep of the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles and a second-straight NCAA Elite 8 trip. A 2015 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention performer and a member of the league’s 2015 All-Defensive team, Agbuke’s career saw the Lady Bears win one NCAA title (2012) and eight Big 12 crowns while reaching the Elite 8 twice and the Sweet 16 once.
Twice a month Agbuke visits the McLennan County State Juvenile Correction Facility and also My Brother’s Keeper Homeless Emergency Center where she shares devotionals and fellowship with youth and the homeless. She has also participated in Feed My Starving Children, through which more than 100,000 meals were packed to feed disadvantaged children. Abuke visits area elementary schools to read to the students and local pediatric units to deliver stuffed bears each Christmas as part of the Lady Bears’ annual Care Bear Drive. She participates in the Little Wranglers program and in a sports camp for Special Olympic athletes on the Baylor campus. Agbuke has also made three trips with the Baylor Sports Ministry teams, traveling to Brazil in 2015, Nairobi and Kenya in 2013 and Kenya in 2012.
In addition to giving back to the Central Texas community, she has also been active in Baylor’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), serving as co-chair each of the last two years and has twice represented Baylor at SAAC’s Big 12 meetings. In addition, she has attended Baylor’s Leadership Academy, which teaches leadership and life skills, completing all three training levels. Agbuke has been a Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ team leader for four years and has organized service opportunities, mission trips, speakers and devotionals for spiritual development in Baylor student-athletes and coaches.
The three-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree was selected as one of three student-athletes from the Big 12 to speak at the Conference’s “State of Collegiate Athletics” forum in April 2015, and was a Big 12 Leadership participant. She was also a Senior CLASS All-America Second Team selection.
A two-time captain, Stein helped the Jayhawks to their second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and a 40-15 record in 2015, marking the first 40-win campaign for Kansas since 1992. She started every game on the season and hit .339 with 36 runs scored and 58 hits, including a Big 12-leading 17 doubles. She ended the year with 41 RBI and her career with 150, claiming Kansas’ all-time RBI record. Stein also finished her career with the Jayhawks tied for fourth in batting average (.349), tied for third in doubles (47), tied for fourth in hits (219), sixth in total bases (307) and 10th in slugging percentage (.490).
At the conclusion of her senior season, Stein was named National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region, All-Big 12 Second and Defensive Team, Academic All-Big 12 and Big 12 Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year. She was also the recipient of one of the Big 12’s Dr Prentice Gautt Postgraduate scholarships. Stein received a degree from Kansas in sports management and then headed to the University of Oklahoma to pursue a master’s degree while working with the Sooners’ faculty academic representative.
Stein was actively involved in community and charitable activities throughout Lawrence. Along with her teammates, she has helped out with the Salvation Army’s Adopt-A-Family program, which helps families in need have a brighter holiday season. Stein was also highly active in SAAC-sponsored events such as Soles for Souls, Trick-or-Treat So Others Can Eat, Fun and Fitness, READ and ringing bells to collect donations for the Salvation Army. On her own, Stein has spent time at the Boys and Girls Club helping out with activities and tutoring children in the community.