SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) announced today that Kasha Hughlett (Maple, Wis./Northwestern), a senior on the Yellowjacket women's track and field team, is the circuit's nominee for the Division III Commissioners Association (D3CA) Women's Student-Athlete of the Year.
 
In 2022, the D3CA launched a new set of awards geared toward honoring student-athletes for their prowess in the classroom. Selection criteria for the DIIICA Student-Athlete of the Year awards included considerations based on academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership and a personal statement submitted by each nominee.

Conferences were permitted to submit two nominations for each award if at least one of the nominations was an international student/ethnic minority. Graduating seniors were the only student-athletes eligible for this award. Selection criteria for the awards included considerations based on academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership and a personal statement submitted by each nominee.

The initial round of voting was conducted by commissioners within each of the ten regions, with the top male and female honoree (including ties) recognized as finalists for the Awards Committee to select the Division III Commissioner's Association Men's Sport and Women's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year.
 
Hughlett, who was also the UMAC nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award in 2023, has been a standout athletically and academically during her career at UW-Superior.
 
In the field, Hughlett won the UMAC championship in the hammer throw during the outdoor season and earned All-UMAC First Team honors during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Twice during the 2022-23 season Hughlett was named UMAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week and helped the Yellowjacket women's team capture the UMAC Indoor Championship for the first time in program history.
 
Over the course of her career, Hughlett won a handful of UMAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week awards and was All-UMAC First Team during both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
 
Academically, Hughlett is among the strongest performers among UW-Superior student-athletes. She graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science degree in transportation and logistics management, carrying a grade point average of 3.991. She was named the Yellowjacket Athletics Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row in 2023, and has been on the Dean's List at UW-Superior every semester of her academic career. Hughlett has been named to the UMAC Academic All-Conference team all four years. Hughlett received Academic All-Region honors from the College Sports Communicators and was a finalist for the UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership in 2023.
 
Additionally, Hughlett was the UW-Superior School of Business and Economics Most Outstanding Junior in 2022 and the school's Most Valuable Senior this year. The recipient of multiple scholarships during her time at UW-Superior, Hughlett also participated in several undergraduate economic research projects, studying the local economy and the impact of the pandemic had on the supply chain. She was also a participant in a national logistics case study competition sponsored by the Intermodal Association of North America.
 
Hughlett also excelled when it came to work in the community. For four years, Hughlett was part of the UW-Superior Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and participated in multiple community service projects, including the popular Caroling for Cans. She was the lead organizer for the campus' honors banquet and active in the Transportation and Logistics Club. Away from campus she worked as an official at local high school track and field meets and volunteered with a local church to help with spring cleanup.
 
Since graduating from UW-Superior, Hughlett moved to Oklahoma to pursue a career in transportation and logistics, working in warehouse management.