MADISON, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-River Falls' Amy Auran has been named the recipient of the 2018 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Judy Kruckman Women's Ice Hockey Scholar-Athlete Award.

A senior from International Falls, Minn., Auran is majoring in elementary education with a minor in professional writing and coaching and maintains a 3.76 grade point average. She is a three-time member of the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll and been recognized on UW-River Falls' Dean's List numerous semesters. Auran is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society.
 
A team captain this season, she has helped the Falcons win the WIAC regular-season championship four consecutive years and O'Brien Cup in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Auran was a member of the UW-River Falls teams that finished as the national runner-up in 2016 and third-place finisher in 2015. She received her team's Hardest Worker Award for the 2015-16 campaign.
 
Auran is a member of UW-River Falls' Hall of Fame Selection Committee and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee – serving as secretary during the 2016-17 academic year. She has volunteered for: Trick-or-Treat For Canned Goods; BRIDGE for community life; Love Your Melon; Youth Frontiers Kindness Retreat; trash pick-up; and local youth athletics. She is a member of the Minnesota Army National Guard.
 
Also nominated for this year's scholar-athlete award were:  UW-Eau Claire's Lauren Norgren (Sr., Fergus Falls, Minn.); UW-Stevens Point's Lisa Fowle (Sr., Wausau, Wis./West); and UW-Superior's Lexie Weiss (Sr., Sleepy Eye, Minn./New Ulm).

The WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award is named after Judy Kruckman who served as Assistant Commissioner for the WIAC from 1996-98. Prior to this appointment, she was Commissioner of the Wisconsin Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WWIAC) from October, 1984 - September, 1996. Kruckman was the women's athletics director at UW-Eau Claire from 1974-84, and one of the original representatives to the WWIAC when it formed in 1971. She was inducted into the WIAC Hall of Fame in 2012.

In order to be nominated for the scholar-athlete award, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.50 grade point average. In addition, she must be in her last year of competition, or on schedule to graduate this academic year, and have competed for a minimum of two years.