As the Illinois state winner, the 2003 Monmouth College grad was named a Top 10 finalist for one of the NCAA’s most prestigious awards. Student-athletes in Divisions I, II and III, were in contention for the honor and Jones was one of the featured women at the awards banquet held at the downtown Marriott in Indianapolis last weekend.

The weekend began with the state winners serving as the guest instructors for the Sports Spectacular, a mini-clinic for grade school and junior high students with each state winner working in her specialty sport. That created a bit of a problem for Jones, the only multi-sport athlete to be named a finalist. She was quickly referred to as “That girl who does everything.”

ESPN’s Robin Roberts and women’s basketball coach and analyst Nell Fortner served as co-hosts for the awards banquet, while ESPN cameramen roamed the crowd filming for an edited version of the banquet which will be aired on ESPN2 on Dec. 5 at 3:30 CST.

Roberts explained to the crowd that the women they were honoring were a select group. “These women represent the top one-third of one-percent of the female student-athletes in all divisions.”

The 50 state winners were introduced, with each Top 10 finalist being featured in a video showing them participating in their sport, doing community service work and attending class.

The finalists then took center stage for the announcement and it was revealed that Ashly Rowatt of Kenyon College in Ohio was chosen as the NCAA Woman of the Year. Rowatt, a 16-time All-American in swimming, carried a 3.96 GPA in molecular biology. She became the first Division III athlete to be named NCAA Woman of the Year.

“I’m amazed by these young women,” said Fortner. “Every year they become better students and better athletes.”

“It was a tremendous experience,” said Jones. “There are so many outstanding women here. I’m really honored to be included in this group.”

Jones, who graduated cum laude last May, has some impressive credentials of her own – a four-time All-American in track, she holds several school records in basketball, was all-conference in four sports and volunteered many hours of community service.

“We’re all very proud of Melissa,” said Terry Glasgow, Monmouth College director of athletics. “She is the proto-type of what a student-athlete should be – a good student, a good athlete and most importantly, a good person.”

“As our hosts introduced the state winners, it became clear that Melissa beat out some very impressive individuals to be named a Top 10 finalist,” said Dan Nolan, sports information co-director. “This really drives home the fact that Melissa is an outstanding individual. We couldn’t be more proud of her.”

As a state winner and a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year, Jones took home a pewter trophy and memories that will last a lifetime.