Forrest (Ellenwood, Georgia) registered a Louisville school-record mark of 23.26 meters (76-3.75) to claim the gold medal on the opening day of the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships with the top collegiate throw of the year. Forrest took the gold medal in the weight throw at the 2021 ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships. She was named the ACC Indoor Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year and ACC Women’s Field Performer of the Year. Forrest was also a 2021 ACC Postgraduate Scholar.
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In addition to this season’s success, she was the 2019 NCAA runner-up in the weight throw and an all-American in the hammer throw. She qualified for the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships before the season was cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19. She is also a member of Louisville’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee serving as an ACC Representative and is a three-time All-ACC Academic Team selection.
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Forrest earned her bachelor’s degree in health and human performance – exercise with a minor in sport administration in May 2021.

Schneider (San Diego) has collected numerous athletic and academic honors after a career-best season in which she helped the Cardinals to their first-ever NCAA final four and the ACC regular season title. The senior defender finished her collegiate career with a 4.0 GPA while majoring in biology with a concentration in genetics subcellular and a minor in Spanish. The 2020-21 NFHCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year was also the recipient of the Elite 90 Award for the NCAA Field Hockey Championship and was a finalist for the Honda Award. Additionally, she earned CoSIDA Academic At-Large All-District honors.
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The three-year starter and team co-captain earned NFHCA All-America third team honors and is a two-time West Region selection (2019, 2020). She is a four-time NFHCA National Scholar of Distinction, a two-time All-ACC Academic Team selection and has been a member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll in each of her seasons at Louisville.Ìý
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Schneider earned her bachelor’s degree in biology, with a minor in Spanish in May 2021.
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About the NCAA Woman of the Year
Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award has honored the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of outstanding female college athletes.
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Following university nominations, conference offices will then select their nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year. Each conferenceÌýnominee will be notified by the NCAA, and all conference-round nominees will be announced on ncaa.org in August.Ìý

Conference nominations are forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee, which identifies the top 10 honorees in each of the three NCAA divisions. From those 30 honorees, the selection committee then determines the three finalists in each division for a total of nine finalists.

The Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year from the nine finalists. At an award ceremony Oct. 17 in Indianapolis, the Top 30 honorees will be celebrated, and the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named.

The soon-to-be-christened Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center boasts a space of 24 acres and a 90,000-square-foot floor with the capability of hosting a wide variety of events from youth track & field events to regional and national track meets in addition to volleyball games, concerts and more.

“What they’re building is a world-class facility,” said Louisville track and field head coach Dale Cowper.Ìý“They brought in representatives from USA Track and Field. … They’ve done it right from the very beginning, and it’s certainly equipped at a very high level. It’s going to be something that is much bigger than the city of Louisville.”

A project spearheaded by the Louisville Urban League, the building is located in the heart of West Louisville, where it promises to serve as an economic boon. Cowper gave particular credit to Louisville Urban League CEO Sadiqa Reynolds for making the Norton Healthcare SLC a reality.

“Sadiqa has done an amazing job putting this together with the Urban League,” Cowper said. “Her vision and her passion to find a way to really bring resources and business and economics into the west side of Louisville is second to none. She’s done a tremendous job getting the facility put together.”

The facility will comfortably hold 4,000 spectators for indoor track and field events, and it features a hydraulic floor that can be lowered to provide space and floor seating for non-athletic events.

Cowper said he’s most impressed with the track itself, which was built to specs that will provide even the most elite of athletes with ample opportunity to perform at a high level.

“The 200-meter track has a great radius to it,” he said, “Which, for those of us in the track community, it means you’re going to run fast. And the field events are set up with tandem pits for the horizontal and vertical jumps. Having dual pits will make for larger competitive field capabilities as well as a more progressive flow to the competition.”

Beyond track and field, the center also has the capability to serve as a community center with a 4-lane mini bowling alley, a rock-climbing wall and space dedicated for educational programming.

The Lenny Lyles Cardinal Invitational is just the first of many events that the UofL track and field program plans to hold there. Also, it will prove even more advantageous for the Cardinals during inclement weather conditions, much like those the city of Louisville is experiencing going into this week’s meet.

“We hope to train there during the winter months as much as we can,” Cowper said. “That’s certainly the objective once we have access to it. We’re going to do a lot of training there. Then, in the future, our goal is to host a couple of smaller competitions and then one larger competition there each year.”

The Cardinals may be the first to host an event at the brand new facility, but it certainly won’t be the last. In addition to collegiate events hosted by UofL, Cowper said the sky is the limit on what the Norton Healthcare SLC can bring to the city of Louisville.

“I think this can host any track and field competition,” Cowper said, “NCAA Championships, USA Championships, youth championships, everything.”

Photo by Natalie Uhl.