Cross country and track & field standout Tess Wei ’17 is one of two students selected to represent the Centennial Conference as a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, which honors a collegiate student-athlete who has distinguished herself in academic achievement, athletic excellence, service, and leadership.

Wei, an honors major in studio art, honors minor in sociology & anthropology, and course minor in art history, is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was Swarthmore’s nominee for the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships in 2016.

Her passion for art extended beyond the classroom: As an intern at the List Gallery, Wei designed, wrote, and published the gallery’s 25th anniversary catalog; at the student-run Kitao Gallery, she served as the campus arts director.

She also interned at the Barnes Foundation and held a residency at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland. The College will acquire pieces from Wei’s senior exhibition through the art department’s Frank Solomon Jr. Student Art Purchase Fund, which recognizes one student per year.

After playing varsity soccer as a freshman, Wei joined the cross country team as a sophomore. In her junior season, she was named to the All-Centennial Conference Second Team with a 13th-place finish at the championship meet. Wei also earned NCAA Mideast All-Region Honors that year as the Garnet’s top regional finisher, placing 23rd among 334 participants. She rounded out her breakout season as a member of the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team and as the Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s cross country, given to the all-conference team member with the highest GPA. Capping off 2016, Wei ran the Philadelphia Marathon in 3:05.16, finishing sixth in her age group and 39th among women overall.

She is the sixth Swarthmore student-athlete to be placed on the national ballot and joins Supriya Davis ’15, Aarti Rao ’14, and Katie Lytle ’14 as recent Centennial Conference representatives.

The 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced Oct. 22.