AMHERST, N.Y. - Dual-sport star Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) of the Daemen College women's cross country and track & field teams has been named the College's 2016-17 Female Athlete of the Year. The announcement was made tonight at the Daemen ESPY's , the Athletic Department's end of the year awards gala held in Lumsden Gymnasium, and the award was presented by former head cross country and track and field coach Jessica Gorski. It marks the third-straight year that Donahue has won this major award.

This past fall she led the women's cross country team to a second-straight runner-up showing at the East Coast Conference championship and a top-five ranking by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Donahue finished second at the ECC Championship for the second-straight year, and led Daemen to a fourth-place showing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) East Regional in Hopkington, N.H. by placing 10th out of 191 runners. For her efforts, she earned All-ECC honors for the fourth-straight year and All-East Region honors for the second-straight time. Donahue, who became Daemen's first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship qualifier in cross country as a junior, ended her stellar cross country career with the 19 top-10 finishes (in 25 career races) and she was also Daemen's top finisher 22 times over her career.

Donahue continued her outstanding senior campaign during the indoor track & field season. She set five individual team records during the season and capped it off by repeating as ECC champion in both the 3,000 meter and 5,000 meter runs—eclipsing her own conference record time in both events.  Her efforts earned her first-team All-ECC and first-team All-Region honors in both the 3,000 and the 5,000 for the second-straight year. She also collected first-team All-Region honors in the one-mile run. Her record-breaking time of 17:00.75 in the 5,000-meter run during the ECC Championship earned her a spot in the NCAA Division II National Championships, making her the first Daemen track & field athlete to qualify for nationals.

One month after her historic appearance at the NCAA indoor championship, Donahue opened the outdoor season by placing first in the 5,000-meters at the Geneseo Early Spring Invitational. Two weeks later she posted a school-record time and placed first in the 10,000 meters at the Brockport Golden Eagle Friday Night Invite with a time of 35:35.11—a time that currently ranks 12th nationally among all Division II track athletes. The time eclipsed the 10,000-meter run provisional qualifying time (36:56.20) for the NCAA Division II National Championships, and by beating that mark Donahue has put herself in contention for an invitation to the national championships which will take place at the end of May.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Donahue claimed individual titles in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs at the ECC Outdoor Track & Field Championships a week later—posting a conference-record time of 38:31.11 in the 10,000 meters.

Donahue's careers honors are impressive. A four-time All-ECC selection in cross country, she was also named All-Region in cross country as a junior and senior. She is a two-time All-ECC selection and five-time All-Region pick in indoor track. She has claimed four All-ECC certificates in outdoor track (three individual, one relay) and is a two-time All-Region selection in outdoor track. She has also earned All-Academic honors from the USTFCCCA multiple times.

Last year Donahue became the first two-time recipient of Daemen's Female Athlete of the Year award, which was instituted in 2012. Prior winners were volleyball player Ye Wang, basketball player Monica Kosior and soccer player Lindsay Miller.

Nominations for the award are made by Office of Athletic Communications and nominees are then voted on by the department's head coaches and other full-time staffers. Additional nominees this year included women's volleyball senior Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster), women's tennis senior Hayle Scanlan (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian), women's basketball senior Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) and women's basketball junior Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster).