Villanova's Reid among three deserving athletes for top collegiate honor

The night Maya Moore scored her 3,000th career point at the Liacouras Center, Sheila Reid was there. She and her Villanova University cross-country teammates had been invited to the NCAA tournament game to be honored for their national championship.

"I witnessed one of the tremendous feats she accomplished," Reid said the other day. "It was fun to watch her play. But that did make it strange when I heard we were finalists for the same award."

The Honda-Broderick Cup is awarded to the most outstanding female college athlete of the year. It's a pretty big deal. And when it is presented Monday in New York, there is a good chance an unsung heroine from a local college will be the winner.

So it seems appropriate to sing a bit about these under-the-radar athletes who accomplished some truly astonishing things during the last academic year. They won't be getting shares of the $9 billion the NFL is fighting about. There won't be nine-year, $51 million contracts in their future. But Reid, Moore, and Penn State volleyball star Blair Brown did some incredible things that you probably should know about.

Moore is the best known, because Connecticut women's basketball is as close as we get to parity with any men's sport in this country. The Huskies won 150 games and lost only four during Moore's career. She won the Honda award last year and could be just the second woman to win it twice.

Ah, but the Huskies actually lost in the final four this year. As terrific as Moore has been, the voters just might be open to acknowledging another deserving athlete. Turns out there are two phenomenal candidates.

Brown completed her degree at Penn State in December. That month, she and her teammates won their fourth national championship. Brown dominated the competition. She has trained with the U.S. national team and could well be playing in the Olympics in Rome next year.

And Reid? The Canadian runner became the first woman ever to win NCAA titles in both the 1,500 meters (the metric mile) and the 5,000 meters in the same year. Running is running, true, but those are two very different races.

No one would be shocked if Moore won this award. But it would be awfully hard not to vote for either Brown or Reid. Four championships. First ever. This is what athletics is all about.

"I was shocked," Reid said of being a finalist. "I was definitely flattered. The other two women are fantastic athletes. As soon as I heard we were finalists, I did some research into their accomplishments. I was so, so happy to be nominated. To win, that would be a huge honor for myself and for our school."

Reid's double title was almost accidental. She was considered a contender in the 1,500. Her coach, Gina Procaccio, suggested she register for the 5K as well.

"I figured why not do it?" Reid said. "It was never my intention. It really happened organically. It was a totally absurd experiment gone really right."

She won the 5,000 on a Friday. The next day, in her main event, she felt blissfully free of pressure.

"Coach Gina said my legs would be sore, which was kind of a mental trick," Reid said. "They were a little sore, but when you're fit, you're fit. If your legs are strong, they'll do the work."

We all live in the real world. This paper and others devoted hundreds of column inches to the exploits of Villanova's basketball team. The Wildcats fizzled in the NCAA tournament, and much time and space was spent trying to figure out why.

Meanwhile, the school's best athlete for this year did her thing in virtual anonymity. Reid was also the Honda award winner as outstanding cross-country runner, another unusual double win.

Out in State College, Brown and her volleyball teammates received a tiny fraction of the attention of JoePa's squad. It isn't fair. It just is.

Meanwhile, Reid was flying from Toronto to Calgary on Thursday to compete in the Canadian national track and field championships. Then it was back East to be in New York, with her dad, for the award ceremony.

"I seem way cooler than I am," Reid said. "Jet-setting all over. I've been to New York to run, but you don't get to experience the city. This is the first time I won't be in running shoes."

She has a lot of work yet to do in running shoes. Reid's latest distance is the gap between NCAA champion and world-class, Olympic-level times. She is hoping to make a career of her sport, and that is the next step.

"I would be crazy not to try for the Olympic team," Reid said. "But it's tough. I have to drop my times a lot. I'm taking it one season at a time."

Reid may win this award Monday. Whether she does, or whether it goes to the sublime Moore or the dominating Brown, there's no doubt Reid is already a winner.