ANGOLA, IND. -- Trine University women's track & field athlete Kara Eck (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) will be one of three finalists for the national Honda Inspiration Award sponsored by The Collegiate Women Sports Awards.
The Honda Inspiration Award is given to a deserving female student-athlete in Division I, II or III who has experienced extraordinary physical and/or emotional adversity, injury and/or illness, or experienced extraordinary personal sacrifice during her college enrollment as a student-athlete and yet returns to athletic success.
Eck has had a historic track career as a thrower at Trine as evident with being a four-time All-America honoree, 10-time national qualifier, four-event school record holder, four-event conference record holder, 13-time conference champion and two-time national athlete of the week. But that career became threatened in mid-December when what was thought to be a routine doctor appointment to treat a sinus infection, turned out to be much more serious with a diagnosis of a brain infection.
Following emergency surgery to remove the infection, it looked like her track career was at a possible end, but two months later after intense rehab, Eck was cleared to compete again and made her return at the 2018 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Indoor Championship where she captured MIAA individual titles in both the shot put and weight throw. Eck had also qualified for the NCAA Division III National Indoor Meet in the weight throw in her second meet of the season with a school record throw of 60' 6.50" and led the nation in the event for the majority of the season. Eck forgoed competing at the national meet in order to continue recovering and set her sights on the outdoor season with her featured event being the hammer throw.
Eck is currently in qualifying status for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in both the hammer and shot put, ranking 11th nationally in the hammer and 21st in the shot put. Eck also added to her impressive conference title list by taking both the hammer throw and shot put events at this past spring's MIAA Outdoor Championship Meet. Her championship in the hammer marked her fourth overall in her career.
To view the official release by the CWSA, please click here for the PDF version and here for the online version.
In addition, to read a newspaper article about Kara that was written by Reggie Hayes of the News-Sentinel Newspaper (Fort Wayne, Ind.), please click here.
The Honda Inspiration Award winner for the Class of 2018 will be selected by the CWSA Board of Directors and announced at a later date. A winner has been selected annually for the past 30 years and will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on June 25, 2018, in the Founders' Room at the Galen Center on the campus of the University of Southern California in downtown Los Angeles, as part of the two-day Honda Awards event.
A special broadcast of the three nominees overcoming adversity called Defying the Odds: The 2018 Honda Inspiration Award will air on CBS Sports Network on June 19 at 7 pm ET.
Information provided by Trine University Athletic Communications.
--MIAA--
