Eight Big West Conference student-athletes representing six institutions have been nominated for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year award, as announced Tuesday by the NCAA.

The institutional nominees are part of a record 605 student-athletes submitted for the award, which honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

The conference nominees competed in seven different sports, and include among them:

• Three Big West Scholar-Athletes of the Year
• Three All-Americans
• Five All-Big West selections
• One Big West Athlete of the Year
• Two Big West Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) members
• One representative on World University USA Water Polo Team

Conferences will now select up to two nominees from the institutional pool and forward them to the Woman of the Year selection committee. The selection committee will choose the top 10 honorees in each division. In 2019, 585 female college athletes, representing all NCAA championship sports across Divisions I, II and III, were nominated.

From among those 30 honorees, the selection committee will determine the three finalists in each division. Finally, the members of the Committee on Women’s Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named this fall.

2020 BIG WEST NOMINEES FOR NCAA WOMAN OF THE YEAR

CAROLYN GILL • CAL STATE FULLERTON • BASKETBALL
A member of the Big West Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Gill has been named to the Cal State Fullerton Dean’s list four times and the Big West Commissioner’s Honor Roll on three occasions. During the shortened 2019-20 basketball season, she averaged 8.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists, and was selected as to the All-Big West Defensive Team and as the Big West’s Best Hustle Player. Gill also has participated on the university’s Equity Committee and helped run basketball camps for girls on campus.

SAMANTHA HUERTA • CAL STATE FULLERTON • BASKETBALL
Huerta has been named to the Big West Commissioner’s Honor Roll four straight years while running both cross country and track at Cal State Fullerton. Huerta’s prolific career includes two runner-up finishes at the Big West Cross Country Championships, which helped the Titan program achieve its first conference title in 2019. The kinesiology major also received 2019 Big West Track Athlete of the Year honors after becoming the first Titan to win the 800 and 1,500 meter titles at the conference meet. Huerta is a two-time recipient of gold in the Big West 800 meter event.

RIKA OKINO • HAWAI‘I • VOLLEYBALL
The starting libero for the Big West champion Hawai‘i volleyball team, Okino helped propel her squad to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2019, she contributed to UH reaching the Sweet 16 and earning a top 15 national ranking. Graduating Magna Cum Laude in civil engineering, she was UH’s 2020 Outstanding Graduating Senior for Civil and Environmental Engineering. Okino also participated in outreach clinics for Youth Volleyball on the Island of Molokai and Big Island of Hawai‘i.

JANNON OTTO • UC RIVERSIDE • BASKETBALL
UC Riverside’s representative of 2019 Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, Otto was the recipient of the 2020 R’Scholar award, bestowed upon the graduate with the highest cumulative GPA. Otto earned an undergraduate degree in media and cultural studies, and her master’s degree in education in the summer of 2020. Otto captured All-Big West First Team accolades as a starter on the Highlander basketball team, and was a two-time team captain. She helped organize UCR’s first and second Diabetes Awareness Games during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.

DANIELLE ORTEGA • UC RIVERSIDE • SOFTBALL
Ortega served as treasurer on the Big West Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in 2019-20 and also helped spearhead UC Riverside’s efforts in the conference annual Coin Drive in 2017-18 and 2019-19, helping raise nearly $8,000 for the Riverside Community Settlement Association. She was a first-team all-conference softball selection in 2019. In 2018, Ortega played a key role in UCR’s runner-up finish in the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC). Ortega has helped lead several youth softball camps at UCR in her efforts to be a role model.

TARA PRENTICE • UC IRVINE • WATER POLO
Prentice was designated the 2019 Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year for UC Irvine and earned the 2020 UCI Chancellor Award of Distinction. A three-time Collegiate Water Polo Association All-American, including first team accolades in 2020, Prentice was a significant contributor on the 2018 Big West Tournament championship team and the 2019 co-regular season title squad.  Her competitive accomplishments also include a roster spot on the 2019 World University USA Water Polo Team which competed in Napoli, Italy. Prentice’s community involvement includes support for Special Olympics Southern California, Bonita Canyon Elementary and the Newport Beach Soup Kitchen.

HAILEY RITTERSHOFER • UC DAVIS • SOCCER
The team captain on the UC Davis soccer team, Rittershofer earned Big West Fall All-Academic Team accolades three times as a biomedical engineering major. During their junior year, Rittershofer founded Davis Athlete Ally (DAA), a Student-Athlete Resource Group aimed at LGBTQIA+ inclusion in athletics. As an undergraduate researcher, they helped design, develop and analyze an optogenetic system for cartilage tissue engineering.

TORI WILSON • CSUN • WATER POLO
A summa cum laude graduate in psychology, Wilson, a native of Canada, was CSUN’s designee as the 2019 Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She also garnered a spot on the Dean’s List in each of her two years at CSUN. In the pool, Wilson landed a spot on the All-Big West Second Team in 2019 and was named an ACWPC Honorable Mention All-American in the shortened 2020 season. Wilson finished first on the water polo squad in goals (32) and steals (35). In the classroom and community, Wilson was a research assistant, an intern for Helping Hands Senior Foundation and a volunteer water polo coach at KW Kraken Water Polo.