Colorado Christian's Sophia Proano Named 2018 RMAC Woman of the Year
RMAC Media Relations
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Colorado Christian University’s (CCU) Sophia Proano was selected as the 2018 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Woman of the Year.
This award honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their college career in areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, community service and leadership.
Sophia is also nominated for the 28
th annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Woman of the Year Award along with Regis University (RU) women’s lacrosse player Jada Bonner. Within the upcoming months, the selection committee will determine the finalists in each division, and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award winner will be announced on October 28.
Sophia, a volleyball student-athlete, graduated with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA), majoring in Biology and double minoring in Chemistry and Psychology. On the court, she played volleyball her first year at Regis before transferring to CCU and redshirting the following season. Sophia played three years with the Colorado Christian Cougars and was named team captain and Chaplin during her time. While serving in those two roles, she was responsible for the spiritual growth of the team, daily team devotions, organizing motivational speakers, and upholding moral and ethical standards for the team. Sophia received several athletic accolades which included First Team All-RMAC selection and American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Honorable Mention All-American in back-to-back years (2016, 2017). In her last season (2017), she led the Cougars in kills (372), kills per set (3.51) and points (414) with 3.91 points per set. She ranked sixth in the conference in kills and guided the Cougars to a fourth-place finish in the regular season standings with a 14-4 RMAC record.
Sophia dedicated as much time off the court as she did on the court. Academically, she was a RMAC All-Academic First Team selection all three years (2015-17) and voted the 2017 RMAC Academic Volleyball Player of the Year. She was also named the 2017 RMAC Summit Award Winner, which is an award presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA competing at the final site of the RMAC Championship.
Aside from her known success as a student-athlete, Sophia has become a respected leader and mentor within the community. The Thornton, Colorado native served as an assistant volleyball coach at Diff Volleyball Club (2015-18) and Ballistic Volleyball Club (2013-14). While coaching at those two club teams, she oversaw practices, recorded statistics and planned team development activities.
In addition, she has volunteered for over five years at Water’s Edge, a local high school mentoring program for teenage girls. At Water’s Edge, she led several teaching programs on self-esteem and self-worth, which provided her the opportunity to help young women develop mentally and emotionally.
Sophia’s wide range of experiences continue to expand from mission trips to conducting research and volunteering in hospitals. During the summer of 2016, Sophia organized a mission trip to Quito, Ecuador where she spent two weeks volunteering at a public hospital in an impoverished, rural area. That same summer she conducted research on the efficiency and effectiveness of incubators in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Since 2015, Sophia has been a regular volunteer at local hospitals providing patient care, assisting doctors with charting and medical records and undertaking arts and craft projects at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado.
Sophia is now preparing to become a Physician Assistant (PA) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She will be recognized at the 2018 RMAC Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet on Friday, July 13 at the Colorado Springs Marriott Hotel. For more information on the event,
click here.