Once Again, Swimmers Dominate NCAA Post-Grad Scholarships; Florida and Emory Lead the Way

INDIANAPOLIS, May 20. THAT many of collegiate swimming's "best and brightest" are also among its finest students has long been documented in Swimming World and on SwimInfo.com.

This year's NCAA winter sports post-graduate scholarship recipients only further substantiate that tradition.

Twenty-two student-athlete swimmers and divers — not quite 40 percent — were among the 58 winter sports winners of the $5,000 grants, the NCAA said. There were 13 men's winners, nine women.

The NCAA annually awards these post-graduate scholarships following the fall, winter and spring playing seasons to "student athletes who have
excelled academically and athletically, and who have completed their final season of collegiate eligibility.

"To qualify for an NCAA post-graduate scholarship, a student-athlete must have an overall grade-point average of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale (or its
equivalent), and must have performed 'with distinction' as a member of the varsity team in the sport in which the student-athlete was nominated," the
NCAA says.

"The student-athlete must also intend to continue academic work beyond the bachelor's degree as a full-time or part-time graduate student. Additionally, the student-athlete must have behaved, both on and off the
field, in a manner that has 'brought credit' to the student-athlete, the institution and intercollegiate athletics," the NCAA adds.

The University of Florida and Emory University led the way with three grantees each, while Georgia and U Cal San Diego had a pair and other schools had a single recipient.

Florida's trio includes All-America individual medley specialist Eric Donnelly, a multi-SEC champ during his career in Gainesville; Mike Jansen, a backstroker-sprinter who's also been an SEC champ; and Megan Melgard.

Donnelly majored in electrical and computer engineering, Jansen in microbiology and cell science and Melgaard in decision and information science.

Florida's arch-Southeastern Conference rival Georgia's two honorees include Marc Lindsay, a former SEC backstroke champ who also represented the United States at last year's World Championships; and freestyler Brain Scannell.

Lindsay is an English major while Scannell's focus is in biology.

Emory's triumvirate includes Thomas Shane and Mark Shimko in neuroscience and chemistry, respectively; and Rebecca Mutz in economics.

The two UCSD Triton recipients include Christian Deck in engineering and Lindsey Meeks in biochemistry.

Other men's winners are: Towson University's David Adkins in political science, Jesse Even of Texas A&M in biomedical science, Brandon Hulko of South Carolina in exercise science, Daniel Hurley of Lawrecne in psychology, Kalamazoo's Evan Whitbeck in chemistry and Benjamin Whittam of Allegheny in chemistry.

On the women's side, other recipients are: North Dakota's Katie Bjerke in elementary education, Emily Carey of Western Kentucky in history, Katherine
Flikkema of Denison in psychology, Angela Soucek of Carleton in French, Julie Upmeyer of Grand Valley State in ceramics.

Lastly, there's Kenyon's Madeleine Courtney-Brooks and Denison's Katherine Flikkema, two "old" rivals whose schools dominated the NCAA DIII championships during their four years at their respective schools. Courtney-Brooks' major is chemistry, Flikkema's psychology.

Courtney-Brooks was sixth in this year's 500 free and is a multi-event All-America. Denison's Flikkema was sixth in the 200 free this year and is also a multi-event All-America.

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