INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - Jamila Demby, a track and field standout from the University of California, Davis, is the 1999 NCAA Woman of the Year. Demby received the award at the ninth annual NCAA Woman of the Year Awards Dinner this evening, at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis, Indiana. The award honors academic and athletics excellence, as well as community service and leadership.

The 1999 NCAA Woman of the Year is presented by Rawlings.

Demby was chosen from more than 300 nominations. A special selection committee chose 51 state winners, including the District of Columbia, and then narrowed the field to 10 national finalists. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics selected Demby from that field.

Demby has won numerous track and field awards, including being named a first-team indoor track and field all-American in the 4 x 400-meter relay in 1998 and 1999. Her outdoor track and field honors are numerous: first-team all-North Coast Athletic Conference in the 400 meters in 1996 and 1997; all-American in the 800 meters in 1996, 1997 and 1999; all-North Coast Athletic Conference in the 800 meters in 1996 and 1999; all-California Collegiate Athletic Association Conference in the 800 meters in 1999; all-American in the 4 x 400-meter relay in 1998 and 1999; four-time all-North Coast Athletic Conference in the 4 x 400-meter relay; 1999 Hubert Heitman Award for Female Athlete of the Year; and the university's Women's Track and Field Most Inspirational Award in 1996 and 1999.

A December 1999 graduate who majored in rhetoric and communication with a 3.06 grade-point average, Demby was on the Intercollegiate Athletics Honor Roll from 1995 to 1999. She was the 1995-1996 recipient of the Bloss Scholarship.

In addition, she volunteered as a Special Olympics Coach, instructed physically challenged youth in track events at the ACT Games and junior-high students at the Jacobs Track Clinic, participated in various food and clothing drives, organized an event at Shriner's Hospital and was awarded the university's Outstanding Senior Leadership Award in 1999.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary organization of colleges and universities devoted to the development of young men and women as students and athletes. The NCAA offers 81 championships in 22 different sports. Approximately 330,000 student-athletes participate annually in NCAA-sponsored sports. The NCAA provides an administrative structure for its nearly 1,200 members in Divisions I, II and III who are joined in their belief that athletics programs are an integral part of their educational mission.

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