Postgrad Powerhouse

From Kenyon News - June 1, 2016

Pictured, from left to right, are Haley Townsend, Sam Lagasse, Alex Oles, Katie Kaestner, Percy Gates, Hannah Lobb and Mariah Williamson.

A record seven student-athletes were named NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners for the 2015-16 academic year. Percy Gates ’16, Katie Kaestner ’16, Hannah Lobb ’16, Haley Townsend ’16 and Mariah Williamson ’16 were named awardees for the winter sports season, joining fall sports winners Sam Lagasse ’16 and Alex Oles ’16.

The College reached its previous high mark of five winners during the 2000-01 academic year.

Since 1964, when the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship program was launched, Kenyon has produced 75 winners, a mark that ranks second-best among all NCAA Division III institutions.

Kenyon's five winter winners were members of the swimming and diving program. Gates helped steer the Lords to conference and national runner-up finishes, while Kaestner, Lobb, Townsend and Williamson pushed the Ladies to a North Coast Athletic Conference title as well as a national runner-up finish.

Gates, a physics major from Greensboro, North Carolina, had three top-10 swims at the 2016 NCAA Division III Championship. Two of those three were second-place showings in the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relays. He was a four-year national qualifier and earned a total of eight NCAA All-America awards. After graduation, he plans to take a year conducting medical research in hospitals and clinics. He'll then begin applying to medical schools and work toward becoming a physician.

Kaestner of Anacortes, Washington, was an 18-time All-American. The breaststroke specialist had three top-10 finishes at the 2016 national meet. She was a previous national title winner, collecting crowns in the 200-yard and 400-yard medley relays at the 2013 championship. A political science major and biology minor, Kaestner will work as a medical scribe for ScribeAmerica. Following her time there, she plans to enroll in a physician's assistant master's program.

Lobb's immediate plans involve returning home to Auckland, New Zealand, where she aims to find a job associated with foreign policy or immigration. When she's ready for postgraduate work, she'd like to focus on international relations or human rights. In the pool, Lobb was a powerhouse for the 2016 Ladies. She won the national title in the 100-yard freestyle and turned in five other top-five finishes.

A long-distance trip is also in store for Townsend of Greenwood, Indiana, who majored in international studies and minored in Arabic. At the end of the summer, she'll travel to Turkey for work as a Fulbright English teaching assistant. Her thoughts about graduate school lean toward energy and environmental studies. In addition to being honored as a postgraduate scholar and Fulbright Fellow, Townsend is a two-time Academic All-American, a 16-time NCAA All-American and a 2013 national champion in the 400-yard medley relay.

Williamson, from Bothell, Washington, was a double major in economics and French. She is moving to Cincinnati to begin work in the Executive Development Program at Macy's corporate finance headquarters. She plans on using her NCAA scholarship to pursue a master's degree in business administration. A distance specialist, Williamson concluded her Kenyon swimming career with 15 NCAA All-America awards. At this year's championship, she had a trio of top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place showing in the 400-yard individual medley. 

Spanning all divisions, the NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually. The one-time non-renewable scholarships of $7,500 are awarded three times a year corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter and spring). For each sports season, 29 scholarships are available for men and 29 scholarships are available for women for use in an accredited graduate program.