INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Missouri Western Women’s Golf student-athlete Shi Qing Ong has been nominated for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Ong was one of a record 585 female college athletes nominated for the 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 NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.

Ong was recently honored as Missouri Western’s first ever Women’s At-Large selection to the Google Cloud Academic All-America team, earning second team honors. She was also MWSU’s first-ever Ken B. Jones Award finalist, given each year to the top female and male student-athletes in the MIAA. Ong was named MWSU’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year following a remarkable season on the links. Ong was named WGCA All-American, WGCA All-Region and MIAA Women’s Golfer of the Year. Her MIAA honor was the second consecutive after claiming back-to-back MIAA Championship titles. Her conference tournament championship capped a run of five-straight individual event championships this past spring. Ong ended her career with an MWSU-record 14 individual titles.

“Chingy” was also named Missouri Western’s International Student of the Year for 2018-19. A four-time first team All-MIAA selection and four-time MIAA Scholar-Athlete award winner, Ong graduated from MWSU this past spring with a bachelor’s in biology/health sciences. She is currently enrolled in the physical therapy program at the University of Oklahoma.

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 from 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.

— MWSU Athletics —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA announced the football schedule for the 2020 season after it was approved by the Institutional Representatives’ Council (IRC) during the Association’s June Meetings.

The schedule was conducted by blind draw administrated by the Association staff. Similar to past seasons, the schedule will consist of 11 conference games. Teams that played six homes in 2019 will play five home in 2020 and teams that played five home games in 2019 will play six home games in 2020.

Below is the 2020 football schedule for Missouri Western.

Week 1 – at Central Oklahoma
Week 2 – vs. Fort Hays State
Week 3 – vs. Emporia State
Week 4 – at Washburn
Week 5 – vs. Northwest Missouri State
Week 6 – at Nebraska-Kearney
Week 7 – vs. Northeastern State
Week 8 – vs. Pittsburg State
Week 9 – at Missouri Southern
Week 10 – vs. Central Missouri
Week 11 – at Lincoln

AUSTIN, Texas – Griffon Women’s Golfer Shi Qing Ong was named second team Google Cloud Academic All-America as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Ong became Missouri Western’s first Google Cloud Academic All-America selection in two years and is Griffon Athletics first-ever Women’s At-Large recipient of the honor. At-large selections are highly selective with just one honoree per sport, per division on each team. The at-large program for the Google Cloud Academic All-America program includes the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis, water polo for both men and women; bowling, crew and field hockey for women; and volleyball and wrestling for men. Since 1991, Missouri Western has had 16 student-athletes receive Google Cloud Academic All-America distinction.

The latest honor for the recent MWSU graduate adds to a highly decorated career. Ong was Missouri Western’s first-ever finalist for the MIAA’s Ken B. Jones award and was a two-time winner of Missouri Western’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year. She was twice named MIAA Women’s Golfer of the Year and was a four-time first team All-MIAA selection. Following her remarkable senior campaign, Ong was named second team All-American by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association and became a three-time WGCA All-Region selection. Ong won a Missouri Western record 14 career events and won five-straight individual titles her senior season, including her second consecutive MIAA title.

CoSIDA began the distinguished Google Cloud Academic All-America program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America scholar-athlete honors. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average. Nominees are first voted upon by district, with first team all-district honorees becoming eligible for Google Cloud Academic All-America distinction.

MISSOURI WESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY GOOGLE CLOUD ACADMEIC ALL-AMERICA HISTORY

ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western Women’s Basketball head coach Candi Whitaker has added to her 2019-20 signing class with the addition of two transfer players, one with local ties. Whitaker announced this week the signings of Simone Rodney and Chris Wilson.

Rodney is a St. Joseph native and a 2017 graduate of Central High School before playing the past two years at St. Louis Community College. Wilson is originally from St. Louis and was a former teammate of Rodney’s at STLCC before spending one season at Flagler College.

Chris Wilson
5-10 | St. Louis, Mo. | Flagler College
Wilson was named second team All-Peach Belt Conference after averaging 13.2 points and 8.7 rebounds in 26 starts last year at Flagler. She also led the team with 70 steals and shot 51.7 percent from the field. Wilson posted nine double-doubles and scored 30 points on 14-of-16 shooting at Augusta. She was twice named the PBC Player of the Week. At St. Louis Community College, Wilson was a two-time first team NJCAA All-American. As a sophomore at STLCC, Wilson averaged 14.9 points and 12.5 rebounds per game to follow up her 17.1 point and 14.7 rebound average as a freshman.

Whitaker on Wilson: “Chris Wilson is a special athlete that brings great versatility to our team. She can score in a variety of ways and will rebound out of space. With Chris’s experience and maturity as a player, I expect her to impact us immediately.”

Wilson on MWSU: “I chose Missouri Western because of the chemistry I instantly got from the head coach. Campus isn’t too big and it seems like a quiet area. Also, I get to go to school with my sister again!”

Simone Rodney
5-7 | St. Joseph, Mo. | St. Louis Community College
Rodney pulled down 276 rebounds with 147 assists and 98 steals over two seasons at STLCC. She averaged 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game as a sophomore while shooting 48.6 percent. Rodney was named NJCAA 2^nd Team All-Region and All-Conference and was a first team NJCAA Academic All-America selection. At Central High School, she was named All-Conference, All-District and All-City.

Whitaker on Rodney: “We are excited to welcome Simone home! A native of St. Joseph, she will be a fan favorite. Simone is a versatile player with good length on the perimeter. She has all the intangibles to help our team win on and off the court.”

Rodney on MWSU: “The culture shift at MWSU is undeniable and Coach Whitaker is already bringing big energy. It’s more than basketball. It’s an opportunity to finish my career exactly where it started!”

The latest two signings bring the total of new student-athletes for Whitaker’s first season at MWSU to six, joining three other Whitaker signees and one who signed during the early period last winter.