WASHINGTON —The Atlantic 10 Conference has named two outstanding student-athletes as nominees for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Davidson volleyball star Bella Brady and George Washington swimming & diving standout Barbara Schaal were chosen the league candidates for one of the NCAA’s most celebrated honors.
Both were chosen as the conference nominees by the Atlantic 10’s Senior Woman Administrators (SWAs) based on their academic prowess, athletic achievements, leadership abilities, skills and community involvement. They were selected from a conference-wide record pool of 17 outstanding institutional nominees, representing nine different sports and 13 A-10 member institutions.
Per the NCAA, all conference-level nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee. The selection committee will choose the top 10 honorees in each division. 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 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year.
Brady is Davidson volleyball’s all-time career digs leader, shattering the 23-year-old record in November of 2023. Brady racked up A-10 accolades during her Wildcats tenure, being named the Libero of the Year from 2021-23 as well as a First Team All-Conference member in all three seasons. The Winter Park, Fla. native earned 10 A-10 Defensive Player of the Week awards and was Davidson’s Team MVP in 2021, 2022 and 2024. In 2024, Brady was named the Davidson Rebecca Stimson Award recipient, presented to a female scholar-athlete best typifying the Davidson spirit in athletic competition and campus leadership.
Brady also was very impressive in the classroom, graduating summa cum laude as a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, Psy Chi with a degree in psychology, premedical studies, and a minor in public health. The libero was a 2024 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America finalist, was a four-time Atlantic 10 Commissioners Honor Roll honoree and won the 2024 Edward L. Palmer award for psychology, which celebrates annually the student who has distinctly served others through the field of Psychology. The scholar-athlete has been published multiple times and had the opportunity to present her research at the international Society for Robotic Surgery annual conference, where she was awarded the Society of Robotic Surgery Award for Excellence in Research.
Brady did a lot outside of volleyball, serving as the body positivity leader at Davidson, serving as the liaison between female athletes and the nutritionist, leading yearly body positivity training problems. She also worked to make an ?impact on younger women in the community, joining the club Strong Girls United to empower young girls in the Davidson community to partake in physical and mental well-being activities. Outside of college in general, Brady ?was an active volunteer at Grace Medical Home, served as a silent auction co-liaison at the Connor Eating House ?and participated in the Lake Norman Elementary Letter exchange with 4th graders from Lake Norman Charter, ?where I would write about the crossover of sports and academics in letters to my pen pal.
Schaal is a record-setting swimmer for George Washington, having been a part of three GW and A-10 record relays each set at '24 A-10 Championships, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay. The Germany native holds the GW 100-yard backstroke record (:53.14) set in fall 2023 and has won 17 medals in total at A-10 conference championships throughout three seasons to help win three straight team titles in 2022-24. Schaal won the Atlantic 10 title in the 2023 100 butterfly, 200-yard free relay and 2024 200-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay, and 400-yard medley relay, setting new program records in 100 backstroke and 100 fly. She was A-10 All-Conference in each of her three years. Internationally, Schaal has placed in the U23 German National Championships in 200-back, 100-fly, and 100-back and the 4x100 mixed medley relay in 2022, as well as in the same events in the European Junior Championships in 2018.
In the classroom, Schaal made Dean’s List five-straight times from Spring, 2022 to Spring, 2024, was a two-time CSC Academic All-District and a two-time College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America Scholar All-American. The ?psychology and brain sciences major has a passion for neuroscience, helping shape her career goal to ?make a significant contribution to the research and treatment of neurological diseases.
Schaal was a former captain of the German Junior National Team which led to her becoming the informal ?leader of the GW Swim & Dive Team, leading the team to three-straight consecutive A-10 titles. She was ?nominated by her coach as one of the leaders on team to participate in monthly seminars with other ?selected athletes at the Leadership Academy, Athletics Department (LEAPP).