STORY COURTESY: N4A

CLEVELAND – The National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals (N4A) has announced the recipients of its 2022 Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award. The N4A Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award honors student-athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics. These individuals have persevered and made significant personal strides toward success.
 
"The Wilma Rudolph Award continues to be one of our association's flagship awards because it celebrates how student-athletes have embraced, persevered, and overcome adverse situations within their personal and professional journeys," said N4A President Ashton Henderson, executive associate athletics director for championship resources at Michigan State University. "These young people provide the bandwidth and runway for us to thrive, and we are grateful to be back in person to celebrate the meritorious achievements of these five amazing recipients."
 
The 2022 Wilma Rudolph recipients are Austin Blake, Campbell University; Riley Clark, University of Maine; Mary Griffin, Virginia Tech; Taylor Robertson, University of Dayton; and Jack Winkler, Michigan State University. These five student-athletes will be honored in conjunction with the 2022 N4A Convention on June 27.

Taylor Robertson, University of Dayton
University of Dayton track & field senior Taylor Robertson is a three-time All-Atlantic 10 performer in pole vault. She earned those accolades all while battling lupus, a disease where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs. The inflammation it causes can affect the joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, heart, lungs, and brain. There is no cure. The disease triggers rheumatoid arthritis and recurring kidney infections severe enough to require hospitalization. When she was first diagnosed at just 15 years old, her doctor told her that she may never be able to run again. Though she will battle lupus the rest of her life, you could never tell by her accomplishments on the track, in the classroom, and in the UD community. She won a silver medal at the 2020 A-10 Indoor Championships. After a season canceled to COVID, Robertson returned to win a silver medal at the 2021 A-10 Outdoor Championships with a mark of 3.86m, good for an all-time top-five record at UD. She also took bronze at the 2021 A-10 Indoor Championships. Robertson owns the second-best mark in UD history for indoor long jump. She is currently the sports editor of Flyer News, the University of Dayton's student newspaper, as well as lead blogger at TrackBarn News (an online newspaper Robertson started with Carl McCargo, CEO of TrackBarn). She will be graduating in December 2022 with a media production degree and plans to become a news anchor.

About Wilma Rudolph: Despite being told as a child she would never walk again, Wilma Rudolph relentlessly pursued her dreams of becoming an international track and field star. At the height of her career, "the fastest woman in the world" used her platform to shed light on social issues. Rudolph competed in the 1956 Olympic Games and won a bronze medal in the 4x100 relay. Four years later, she headed to the 1960 Summer Olympics determined to earn gold. Her performance in Rome cemented her as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. She won three gold medals and broke several world records. Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at the same Olympic Games. The indoor track and dormitory at Tennessee State University are named in honor of Rudolph. She died of a brain tumor on November 12, 1994.
 
About N4A: N4A, which has been in existence since 1975, is a diverse educational service and professional non-profit organization. Membership of N4A includes academic support and student services personnel who are committed to enhancing opportunities for academic, athletics and personal success for student-athletes. For more information on N4A, visit www.nfoura.org. N4A is administered by NACDA, which is in its 57th year. For more information on NACDA and the 18 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.