May. 2, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Last week the NCAA announced that Missouri Track & Field student-athletes Jenny Bybee and Conrad Woolsey earned the NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship award, good for $7,500 in graduate fees. Woolsey and Bybee bring the count of Tigers earning the scholarship so far in the 2004-05 season to four, which is the best of all schools in all three of the NCAA's divisions.
Bybee (Springfield, Mo.) is a two-time NCAA Outdoor Championship qualifier in the women's high jump. Jenny, the daughter of Gene and Ruthie Bybee, is a four-time high jump All-Big 12 performer. Bybee, a communications major, was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America second team last year.
Woolsey (Excelsior Springs, Mo/Excelsior Springs HS) came from Northwest Missouri State last year and has made a lasting impact since. As a Tiger, Woolsey has won three All-America awards in the men's shot put, just recently placing eighth at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships. At this year's Big 12 Indoor Championships, Woolsey won his first conference championship at Missouri in an impressive way. After being surpassed on the next-to-last throw by Kansas' Sheldon Battle in the final round of the men's shot put, Woolsey entered the ring as the event's final thrower. Woolsey took the 16-pound ball and chucked it 63-¾ (19.22m), topping Battle by just over an inch. Woolsey just last week also became a Drake Relays Champion, winning the University division shot put competition by two feet.
Woolsey, the son of Wayne and Nancy Woolsey, is in his first year of the sports psychology doctorate program, gaining his master's degree last spring. Woolsey's brother, Tucker, won the NCAA post-graduate scholarship award in 2002 for his work at Northwest Missouri State.
The NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.
The more telling feat of the academic work of Missouri Track & Field is told by the fact that squad members have earned 10 post-graduate scholarships in the past nine years, competing for each of the 174 scholarships against every NCAA institution at all divisions and team members of every sport that the NCAA sanctions.
In fact, since fall 2001, Missouri Track & Field leads all NCAA Division I teams (along with Stanford water polo and Florida swimming and diving) as having six student-athletes from the team win the award for later study. As an institution, Missouri is tied for fourth in Division I with seven awards won in the past five years.
Woolsey and Bybee won the award as part of the winter indoor track and field season. Awards will also be given for the outdoor track and field season in late-June. The NCAA's winter season includes 22 sports, it's very rarely seen that two members of the same school earn the award in one season, let alone the same team, such as what Woolsey and Bybee accomplished. Tiger Serena Ramsey won a post-graduate scholarship from this year's cross country season as announced in January along with Tiger soccer player Karen Bauer.
The one-time grants of $7,500 each are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. Each sports season, there are 29 scholarships available for men and 29 scholarships available for women. The scholarships are one-time, non-renewable grants. Candidates are screened by seven regional selection committees, and winners are selected by the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee.
Eligibility is restricted to student-athletes at NCAA member institutions who, in their final year of eligibility, have performed with distinction as members of varsity teams in the sport for which they were nominated. Nominees must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.200 (based on a 4.000 scale), be nominated by the faculty athletics representative or designee, and intend to continue academic work beyond the baccalaureate degree as a part-time or full-time graduate student.
The Tiger Track & Field team will continue their season this weekend with the Billy Hayes Classic in Bloomington, Ind., and will start the championship season with the Big 12 Championships, May 13-15, in Manhattan, Kan.
More information on this award, this year's and past year's winners can be found at http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/ed_outreach/prof_development/postgrad_scholarships.html