CHARLOTTE, N.C. - VMI track & field athlete Carrie Wortham is one of two finalists for the Big South's Woman of the Year award for 2011-12, according to information released Wednesday. Wortham joins Courtney Durbin of Winthrop as the two finalists.
The Conference's Woman of the Year award is sponsored by Big South Corporate Partner Musco Sports Lighting, and the winner will be announced and presented her award on Thursday, May 31 at the Big South's Awards & Hall of Fame Dinner in Hilton Head, S.C.
The Big South's Woman of the Year Selection Committee voted Durbin and Wortham as the two finalists among the seven candidates nominated for the award. The Big South's Woman of the Year winner is nominated as a candidate for the national NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Wortham, a 3.91 student in biology, competed in the pole vault all four years at VMI, and equaled her personal best with a 3.30 meter jump at the VMI Collegiate Invitational in February. As a junior, she finished seventh at the Big South Outdoor Championships with a jump of 3.25 meters to mark her first career scoring effort at the Conference meet. Other career highlights include a seventh-place finish at the Military Track & Field Championships in 2010. Wortham also ran cross country during her freshman season of 2008 in addition to her time on the track team. A three-time Big South Presidential Honor Roll member, Wortham also received the VMI Faculty Merit Scholarship the last two years, which is given to rising junior and senior cadets displaying excellence in scholarship, extracurricular activities and high military standing.
Off the track, Wortham made mission trips to Haiti twice and Honduras once where she worked with orphanages in both countries. She volunteered with the Midwives for Haiti and was involved in the VMI Engineers Without Borders Chapter. Wortham has also been involved with VMI's Recycling Club and was a Regimental S-2 Staff in Corps of Cadets where she was a captain. She also served as President of the VMI Tri-Beta Biological Honors Society. During her time at VMI, Wortham was inducted into six different Honor Society organizations, including the Phi Sigma Iota Honor Society in Iota International Foreign Language.
Portions of this release are courtesy of the Big South Office of Public Relations.
