INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- After a stellar four-year career with the Elmira College women's ice hockey team, Katie Granato '19 has been named as one of the nominees for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award.
 
Granato is one of 585 female student-athletes, a record number of nominees, nominated by NCAA member schools for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
 
The native of Naperville, Illinois, enjoyed one of the finest careers in Elmira's storied women's ice hockey history. Over her four years donning the Purple and Gold, Granato amassed 133 points on 73 goals and 60 assists. The 73 goals rank fourth in EC history, while her 133 points stand as the program's eighth-highest total.
 
Granato capped her senior season with a United College Hockey Conference (UCHC) best 45 points on 26 goals and 19 assists. Her 1.61 points per game ranked fourth in all of Division III, as did her 0.93 goals per game average, while her nine power-play goals held steady as the third-highest total in the country. Those efforts helped the talented forward garner UCHC Player of the Year honors, All-UCHC First Team accolades, CCM/AHCA All-America First Team, All-USCHO Second Team and Elmira College Athlete of the Year, all while guiding the Soaring Eagles to a second consecutive UCHC Tournament title.
 
Her work off of the ice was just as impressive, as she was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® At-Large Women's Third Team and the Google Cloud Academic All-District® Women's At-Large Team.
 
As a nursing major, Granato graduated with an outstanding 3.70 GPA. She was a member of numerous honor societies, including the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society. Granato has previously been recognized for her academic achievement with All-Academic Team awards from the UCHC and ECAC West.
 
About the NCAA Woman of the Year Award
Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
 
The nominees competed in 23 different sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 262 nominees from Division I, 131 from Division II and 192 from Division III. Multisport student-athletes account for 144 of the nominees.
 
Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division.
 
The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30 and announce the nine finalists in September. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then will choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.
 
The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual award ceremony Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.