Manfra Tabbed GNAC Woman of the Year Finalist

GNAC RELEASE

WINTHROP, Mass. – Emily Manfra of the Suffolk women's cross country and track & field teams has been named a 2019-20 GNAC Woman of the Year Finalist, the conference office unveiled Thursday afternoon.  

The Rams' long-distance running standout is one of six finalist which includes: Colby Sawyer's Alison Fairbairn (cross country), Emmanuel's Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (softball/women's basketball), Johnson & Wales' Maria Coniglio (volleyball), Lasell's Mindy Esposito (field hockey), Saint Joseph's (Maine)'s Lillian Bisset (track & field).  

Manfra is the first Ram to be considered a finalist since softball's Erin McAndrews '14 in 2014.  

The NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletic excellence, community service and leadership and graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2020 (or demonstrate that she would have earned her degree if not for the COVID-19 pandemic).  

Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. From there, conference offices review the nominations and submit its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. Those candidates will be considered by committee and sent to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee that identifies the Top 30 – 10 from each division – and from there selects three finalists from each division. The Committee on Woman's Athletics then selects the winner from the nine finalists.  

All 30 Women of the Year honorees will be recognized, and the 2020 Woman of the Year announced, on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020.  

First, a student-athlete must garner the GNAC title, which will be announced at the end of July.

Manfra encompassed the true-meaning of student-athlete, achieving excellence in the classroom and on the course.  

Athletically over her four years at Suffolk, she ran into the cross country record books and was one of the building blocks to the young track & field program.  

In cross country she was the program's first-ever rookie of the year as a freshman in 2016. The Stoneham, Massachusetts, only went up from there, graduating as the most decorated runner of all time with GNAC Runner of the Year honors in 2019, a pair of all-region and a trio all-conference nods, respectively. In addition to her hardware, she became the first Ram to run at NCAAs in 2018 and repeated that performance with her second straight trip to the national stage as a senior this season. 

When transitioning from cross country courses to track & field Manfra did not skip a beat. She quickly ran to the regional then national ranks, competing at NCAAs in both indoor and outdoor, respectively. Her award haul includes two All-American nods, three all-region honors, 2020 GNAC Track Athlete of the Year (indoor), 2019 GNAC Runner of the Year, GNAC Champion on four occasions and four all-league awards. 

Academically, the biology major was near perfect over her eight semester at Suffolk with a 3.99 cumulative GPA. For her performance in the classroom, she took home Academic All-American awards from CoSIDA twice, including a first-team nod this year, the first to do so in the Rams' history. The two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree also owns three all-academic team honors from the USTFCCCA and four by the GNAC to go along with eight AD Honor Roll selections and six unblemished 4.0 terms.