Lee University women's soccer four-year star Summer Lanter has been named one of two nominees from the Gulf South Conference for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year honor.
The senior from Soddy Daisy graduate Summa Cum Laude in May with a nursing degree and was the 2018 commissioning speaker. She was named the Gulf South Conference Female Athlete of the Year, received the highest award a student-athlete can win at Lee this past year, the Paul Conn Student- Athlete of the Year award and was also named the Lee University Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
For the third straight year, Lanter was named to the GSC All-Academic Team and GSC Honor Roll. She was a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society and volunteers locally with Haven Place, the Austin Hatcher Foundation, and Kicking It For Kid's with Cancer to complete more than 80 hours of community service.
Lanter was the team captain and played a prominent role in leading the Lady Flames to the program's first GSC Tournament Championship in 2017. The Lady Flames would also advance all the way to the NCAA South Region final (Sweet 16) for the first time in school history. Lanter was named the Most Outstanding Player of the conference tournament and received her second consecutive GSC Player of the Year award.
Lanter garnered national attention as she was named a United Soccer Coaches (USC) Second Team All-American. In addition, she landed on the D2 Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) and USC First Team All-South Region teams and was honored as the D2CCA South Region Player of the Year. She was named First Team All-GSC three consecutive seasons (2015-2017), as well as D2CCA and USC First Team All-Region back to back years.
NCAA member schools nominated 581 women for the national award, the most in the program's 28-year history. Conference offices reviewed all nominees from their member schools. You have been selected for conference recognition because of your outstanding achievement in your collegiate career. Nationally, 153 conference-level honorees are nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year.
In early September, the Woman of the Year selection committee will name the Top 30 honorees, which include 10 women from each division. At the end of September, the selection committee will select and announce nine finalists, with three from each division. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from those finalists.
The 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at an awards dinner in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 28, 2018.
This marks the second straight year a Lee athlete has been chosen to represent the conference as the NCAA Woman of the Year nominee. Last season, volleyball player Catherine Conley received the selection.