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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Junior Catherine White has been named one of four nominees for the 2009-10 Honda Sports Award for cross country, as announced by the Collegiate Women Sports Award.

The winner of the Honda Sports Award for cross country will be decided by nationwide voting among NCAA member schools and will become a nominee for The Honda-Broderick Cup, an award annually given to the nation’s outstanding collegiate woman athlete of the year. In addition to the honor of this selection, American Honda will donate $1,000 to the women’s athletic fund of each nominee’s university, while the winner’s program will receive $5,000. This year’s nominees are Angela Bizzari from Illinois, Washington’s Kendra Schaaf, Susan Kuijken of Florida State and White.

White finished fourth for Virginia at the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday to earn All-America honors and became the highest finisher for the Cavaliers since Lesley Welch won the national title in 1982. She also won the 2009 NCAA Southeast Region Title this season – becoming the program’s first-ever individual regional champion – and earned Southeast Region Athlete of the Year honors for her accomplishments, another first for Virginia.

A transfer from Arkansas, where she won the SEC Cross Country Championships as a sophomore, White finished runner-up at the 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in her first season as a Cavalier. She also claimed the George Mason Invitational title in her debut with Virginia.

Now in its 34th year, the Collegiate Women Sports Award program recognizes annually the top woman collegiate athlete in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, each of whom receives the Honda Sports Award. In addition, each year, a single athlete from the group of 12 Honda Sports Award winners is chosen as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and is presented with the Honda-Broderick Cup.

Former Cavalier All-American and NCAA Cross Country Champion Lesley Welch earned the Honda Sports Award in 1982-83, while former basketball standout and All-American guard Dawn Staley earned the Honda-Broderick Cup in 1990-91 for Virginia.

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