Denison's Colleen Wirtz Awarded NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship

The NCAA has announced that Denison University senior Colleen Wirtz has been awarded the prestigious Postgraduate Scholarship for the fall of 2005. The monetary scholarship of $7,500, awarded annually to college senior scholar-athletes, can be used at any graduate-level educational program of each awardee's choice.

A native of Westerville, Ohio, Wirtz started every game in her career at Denison and led the Big Red to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. She leaves Denison with a career record of 56-20-7 (.717) and is tied for sixth in goals scored with 33. This past season Wirtz captained Denison to their most successful postseason in school history, advancing to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. Wirtz is a three time National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American, a two-time ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American and a two time NSCAA/Adidas Scholar All-American. In addition, she was named to the North Coast Athletic Conference first-team on three occasions and was a three time all-region choice.

A biology major, Wirtz plans on attending medical school following her graduation from Denison in May. She is a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta (Premedical Honorary), Mortar Board (Senior Honorary), Delta Gamma sorority, Rho Lambda (Female Greek Honorary) and is the Vice President of Omicron Delta Kappa (National Leadership Honorary).

She served a summer-long surgery experience internship at The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and volunteers with the Denison group "Hope for Autism" and the Licking County Center for the Visually Impaired. Wirtz' scholarship brings the University's total number of Postgraduate Scholars to 39, placing Denison third among more than 400 NCAA Division III institutions. Emory University (Ga.) leads the division with 48 Postgraduate Scholars, and Kenyon College (Ohio) is second with 46. Following Denison with 35 is Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University (Md.) with 32.

The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship program was created in 1964 to honor outstanding student-athletes from NCAA member institutions. The NCAA awards scholarships of $7,500 each year to student-athletes who have excelled academically and athletically and are in their final season of intercollegiate varsity athletic competition. The student-athlete must carry a 3.20 cumulative grade-point-average, be a distinct member of a varsity team, intend to enroll in a graduate degree program and be an outstanding citizen.