Hendricks Swaps Track for Tennis in Four-Year Transfer
Sophomore track and field and cross country athlete Marian Hendricks committed her academic and athletic future to University of the Ozarks, where she will play women's tennis for the Eagles.
BENTONVILLE - In front of a full house made up of family members, friends, coworkers and coaches, sophomore track and field athlete Marian Hendricks announced her commitment to play women's tennis at the University of the Ozarks after graduating from NWACC this spring.
"I'm feeling blessed," Hendricks said. "I'm really grateful that I had so many people who wanted to celebrate me and to have coaches that support me."
Hendricks will reignite her tennis career with Ozarks after previously playing for Bentonville High School. During her time with the Tigers, she won a state title and was given the True Tiger award for character twice.
The Bentonville native's path to NWACC Athletics was an uncommon one, as her athletics background was focused around volleyball and tennis, two sports not offered at NWACC. After being unable to find a place on a collegiate volleyball team, Hendricks enrolled at NWACC for the academics and found her way into the athletics office by chance.
She found cross country and track and field head coach Josphat Boit and asked to join the cross country team despite never having run competitively before. After a successful 2024 season, she was part of NWACC's first-ever track and field program in Spring 2025 and will follow that up with her 2026 season later this spring.
A 2024 Academic All-American, Hendricks has directly impacted an unprecedented number of departments at NWACC in two years as an Eagle. Beyond her full-time status as a student, two seasons of track and single season of cross country, Hendricks also gives campus tours to prospective students, manages the NWACC recruiting Instagram page and was featured in an NWACC advertisement campaign in 2025.
In the meantime, Hendricks hasn't set her sights past NWACC quite yet, with her last hurrah in the Forest and Lime still to come as the Spring 2026 Track and Field season begins later this month.
"I'm obviously excited for track season, my final season of running," Hendricks said.
She plans to run mid-distance events for the Eagles before graduating in May and heading for Clarksville in the fall.
The NWACC Women's Track and Field Schedule is out now and available to view here. The season begins Feb 27-28 with the Hendrix Invitational at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark.
