Simoné Pärn Selected as East Coast Conference Nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year Award

WASHINGTON, DC- The University of the District of Columbia's women's tennis team player, Simoné Pärn was selected as one of two nominees to represent the East Coast Conference , to advance in the NCAA Woman of the Year process.

Simoné Pärn (Pärnu, Estonia) is one of 151 student-athletes in the country, chosen to represent their conferences. Of those nominated, 53 nominees competed in Division I, 39 in Division II and 59 in Division III. Conference offices can recognize two nominees if at least one is a woman of color or international student-athlete.

The Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose 10 nominees from each division to make up the national Top 30 honorees. The Top 30 honorees will be announced in October. From there, the selection committee will narrow the pool to three finalists from each division. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2022 Woman of the Year from the nine finalists.

"The East Coast Conference is excited to have Simone Parn as one of the conference nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year honors,'' says ECC Comissioner, Dr. Robert Dranoff. "Simone is clearly one of the top student-athletes in the ECC, excelling in the classroom, the tennis court and in service to the UDC community.  She is an outstanding representative for the institution and the conference." 

Pärn has excelled both on and off the court. On the court, she led the Firebirds to their first ECC title in 10 years as one of the top players in the conference and East Region. She finished with a 12-1 singles record. Her play earned her a spot in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. She climbed as high as No. 2 in the East Region and No. 30 nationally.  

As good as she was on the court, Pärn may have been even better in the classroom. She boasted a perfect 4.0 GPA in both her undergraduate and graduate studies as a Biology major. Her success in the classroom led to more accolades, as she was a two-time recipient of the ECC Elite 19 Award (highest GPA among student-athletes participating in each of the ECC's 19 championships) and was named the ECC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

In addition, Pärn has been an active member of the Firebirds' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. As a member of SAAC, she was involved in raising money for Go4theGoal, the Make-A-Wish foundation, and helped contribute over 600 donated canned food items to an on-campus food pantry. She also conducted a breast and cervical cancer presentation for UDC's female Student-Athletes. Parn also volunteers at the Georgetown University cancer center where she utilizes computational resources to design peptide-base  COVID-19 vaccine.

She recieved the Reslyn Henley Memorial Award this Spring which is given to the senior student-athlete who has exhibited nobility of character, deep loyalty to his or her fellow students or teammates, high team spirit and a demonstrated ability to inspire his or her teammates to perform in a manner that reflects favorably upon the team and the university. She went on to recieve the East Coast Conferenc'es most prestigious award- the Excellence in Community and Character award, which is given to student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through positive actions and behaviors that are consistent with the NCAA Division II attributes of learning, service, passion, sportsmanship, balance, and resourcefulness.

The NCAA Woman of the Year program is rooted in Title IX and has recognized graduating female college athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership since its inception in 1991. Click Here for the official NCAA release.