Six Emory University seniors have been selected as recipients of the prestigious (NCAA) Postgraduate Scholarship, based on their academic, athletic and community achievements during their careers at the University. The winners include:
- men's basketball player Alex Greven,
- men's swimmers Justin Beegle, Miller Douglas and Peter O'Brien, and
- women's swimmers Mia Michalak and Ann Wolber.
Each of the six winners will receive a one-time $7,500 scholarship, to be used for postgraduate study within three years. Emory has now been awarded 82 postgraduate scholarships over the school's history, and its 65 since 2000 are more than any other NCAA institution except Stanford University.
In addition, the six winter winners are the most in a single-season (fall, winter or spring) in the history of the Emory Athletics department.
Alex Greven of Winston-Salem, N.C., will graduate as part of the winningest class in Emory Men's Basketball history, leading the team to 74-28 during his four seasons, including a University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship and NCAA Tournament berth this season. The guard's 1,268 points rank as the sixth most in school history, and he has been named to the all-UAA First Team once and the Second Team twice during his career.
Greven, who was named to the Capital One/ CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team earlier this season, has a 3.783 GPA as a Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology major at Emory.
Greven is the fourth member of the Emory Men's Basketball team to win an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, and the first since Neil Bhutta in 2000. Other previous winners from the program include Lewis Satterwhite (1999) and Kevin Felner (1993).
Justin Beegle of Gettysburg, Penn., recorded an all-America honorable mention finish in the 200-yard breaststroke for the second-straight season at the 2013 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, finishing 12th in the event with a time of 2:02.12. He also finished 18th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a career-best time of 56.70 seconds, and 21st in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:06.50.
Beegle finished his Emory career with the two all-America honorable mention certificates. He has a 3.64 cumulative grade point average as an Anthropology major with a minor in Global Heath at Emory, and has been named to the CSCAA Scholar All-America team twice.
Miller Douglas of Atlanta, Ga., won the 2013 National Championship in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:46.64. It was his first career National Championship, and the 13th overall in the program's history. Douglas added all-America honors in his other two individual events at the NCAA Championships, finishing sixth in the 200-yard individual medley (1:49.78) and seventh in the 400-yard individual medley (3:56.32).
He was also a part of three all-America relays, swimming the butterfly leg on the Eagles' school-record setting 200-yard medley (1:28.72) and 400-yard medley (3:17.28) relays, finishing third in the former and sixth in the latter, and finishing the meet with a seventh-place finish as the second leg of Emory's 400-yard freestyle relay.
Douglas, who transferred to Emory from Cal-Berkeley prior to his junior year, ended his collegiate career with 10 all-America honors during his two years with the team. In addition, he recorded a 3.606 GPA as a Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology major, and was named to the CSCAA Scholar All-America Team and the UAA Honor Roll in each of his eligible seasons as an Eagle.
Peter O'Brien of Houston, Texas, recorded all-America finishes in three events during his final NCAA Championship meet, setting school records in each, and added three all-America honorable mention finishes. O'Brien set the program record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:49.38, finishing fifth overall in the event. He also swam the breaststroke leg on the Eagles' third-place 200-yard medley relay, which finished in a school-record time of 1:28.72, and sixth-place 400-yard medley relay, which recorded a program-best mark of 3:17.28.
Peter added individual all-America honorable mentions with a ninth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:00.55) and a 10th-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley (3:56.06), in addition to a 12th-place finish as the anchor leg of the Eagles' 800-yard freestyle relay (6:41.74).
He finished his career with a total of 12 all-America certificates and seven all-America honorable mentions.
O'Brien is a a 3.542 grade point average as an Applied Mathematics major at Emory, and his academic honors include recognition as a CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team and All-District First Team selection during his junior year, and CSCAA Scholar All-America honors each of his eligible seasons.
Mia Michalak of Collierville, Tenn., finished sixth in the 200-yard individual medley at the 2013 NCAA Championships, earning an all-America certificate in the event for the second-straight season. She also added all-America honorable mentions with a ninth-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley and a 12th-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Michalak ended her four years at Emory with three individual all-America certificates and three honorable mentions, all coming over the last two seasons (the maximum total individual honors one can earn during a two-year stretch).
She has a 3.53 GPA as a Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology major, and has been named a CSCAA Scholar All-American on two occasions.
Ann Wolber of Sterling, Ill., won a pair of National Championships in 2013, swimming the third leg on both the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. Wolber helped the Eagles record a new Division III record in the 400-yard freestyle relay, finishing with a time of 3:21.28, while the 200-yard freestyle relay recorded a mark of 1:32.93.
Wolber finished her Emory career with six National Championships, the second-most in the program's history, and seven all-America certificates.
She has a 3.693 GPA as a Biology major at Emory, and has been named a CSCAA Scholar All-America three times, and to the Dean's List in 2010.
Emory's Swimming and Diving team has now seen 38 of its members win the scholarship, including 21 winners over the last seven years. Since 2000, the Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving programs have garnered 34 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships.
Scholarship created to encourage postgraduate education
This season's NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients (29 men and 29 women) represent winter-sports participants from all NCAA divisions, who will receive one-time, nonrenewable grants of $7,500.
The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The Association awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women.
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports.