INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Former Western Illinois softball star Lori Conrad (formerly Lori Pankratz) was recently named as a nominee for the NCAA Women of the Year Award.

Conrad (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) was a two-time all-Summit League second team selection during her time with the Fighting Leathernecks.

The former infielder/pitcher was 10-6 with a 2.28 ERA from the circle last season and batted .245 with three homers and 22 RBI at the plate.

For her career, Conrad posted a record of 28-28 and a 3.12 ERA while finishing eighth in school history with 288 career strikeouts. She led the league with a 0.88 ERA against conference opponents in 2010, allowing just six earned runs in 47.2 innings of work.

Conrad also excelled in the classroom, graduating in May with a degree in pre-physical therapy. She earned Summit League Academic All-League honors, CoSIDA Academic All District honors and the Student-Athlete Provost Award as a senior and was one of just eight students at Western to serve as a graduation marshal at commencement.

She will continue her education in the University of Iowa's physical therapy master's degree program this fall after being named as the Western Illinois University Department of Biological Sciences Most Outstanding Student for the 2009-10 academic year.

The NCAA Women of the Year Award goes to a student-athlete who has exhausted her eligibility in her respective sport by the end of the 2010 academic year, maintains a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 and has graduated by the end of the summer session.

Each athletic conference selects one conference representative who will join the final field of 30 athletes eligible for the award. A total of nine finalists will be selected to attend the NCAA Awards Ceremony in Indianapolis on Oct. 17.