Bullard, Skelton nominated for NCAA award
ARKADELPHIA — Volleyball standouts Kori Bullard, of Ouachita Baptist University, and Sydney Skelton, of Henderson State University, were announced as their schools’ nominees this week for the 2017-18 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Bullard, of Lake Hamilton, graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Biology in May. She graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and was selected to be the senior class representative at commencement. Bullard was a member of the Carl Goodson Honors Program, Tri Beta Biological Honor Society and the Alpha Chi National Honor Society. She said she plans to attend the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
The former Tiger participated in Tiger Serve Day and Senior Citizens Day, volunteered for the Humane Society and was a physics peer instructor during the fall of 2017. She was announced this summer by the Great American Conference as the first female student-athlete to ever repeat as GAC Scholar Athlete of the Year. She was previously named the GAC Crafton Tull Elite Scholar Athlete in both volleyball and basketball. Bullard was named Ouachita Baptist Female Scholar Athlete of the Year each of the past two years for the Tigers.
Skelton, who graduated from Henderson in May, was a three-
year starter for the Reddies at libero, where she became a two-time All-Great American Conference selection and helped lead the Reddies to their first ever appearance in the GAC Tournament in 2016. Skelton holds the GAC record for digs in a match with 54 and ranks sixth all-time in school history in defensive digs with 1523 in just 299 career matches.
Off the court, Skelton was the internal operations director for Henderson’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was the 2017-18 recipient of the India Norman Award, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a female student-athlete at the university.
Bullard was named captain of the Ouachita volleyball team three times and twice for the women’s basketball team. She set GAC and school records for career kills by a middle blocker with 1,124. She broke the school’s career record for total points with 1,379.
In the summer of 2017, Bullard traveled to Brazil as a member of the USA Volleyball
D-2 National Team. She then finished her basketball career as one of 15 players in GAC history with at least 900 points and
500 rebounds.
The NCAA Woman of the Year award, which began in 1991 and is now in its 28th year, honors graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and have stood out through their work in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
Bullard and Skelton join a record number of 581 nominees from all three levels of NCAA competition this year, which includes 130 other nominees from Division II institutions. Bullard is one of 109 two-sport athletes in the field.
The four pillars of the award are based on academics, athletics, service and leadership.
Nominees from each conference will be selected in August and the top 30 nominees overall, which includes 10 from each division of competition and are picked by the NCAA, will be recognized in Indianapolis on Oct. 28. Three finalists from each division will be picked from those 30 and the Committee on Women’s Athletics will then select the winner from the nine finalists.