Top Performers
From Kenyon News - July 13, 2015
Kenyon strengthened its position as a national leader in Division III athletics with the addition of three NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients this academic year. Three 2015 graduates, Sam Justice, Wes Manz and Hannah Cooper, each earned a $7,500 award and helped boost Kenyon’s overall total to 68 scholarship winners, second best among 450 Division III institutions.
“We strive to create an environment that promotes well-roundedness, an environment in which our top scholars also turn out to be our top athletes,” said Peter Smith, director of athletics, fitness and recreation.
Justice, a four-year defender for the Lords soccer team, was one of just 29 NCAA fall sports athletes to earn the scholarship. The mathematics graduate plans to study statistics at the University of Iowa. On the field, he helped the Lords ring up an 18-2-2 record, a North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament title and a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament's quarterfinal round. At the conclusion of the season, Justice was named the conference Defensive Player of the Year and collected a slew of All-America and Academic All-America honors.
Manz and Cooper were among the 29 men and 29 women selected from NCAA winter sports.
Manz was a four-year member of the Lords powerhouse swimming and diving program. This season, he qualified for the national meet and helped the Lords capture their third straight and 34th overall NCAA Championship. He won 2015 event titles as a part of Kenyon’s 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relay teams. He collected three career All-America awards and was the winner of the team’s 2015 Coach’s Award. Manz, who majored in biochemistry, plans to use his scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in exercise physiology at the Indiana University School of Public Health.
Cooper, who earned a psychology degree, is the 27th member from the Ladies swimming and diving program to earn an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. She will seek a master’s degree in sports psychology at St. Mary's University in London. In the pool, Cooper was a three-year national qualifier and played a significant role in lifting the Ladies to fourth place at the 2015 NCAA Championship. She acquired seven All-America awards, was a 2015 Academic All-American and swam a leg on the Ladies’ NCAA title-winning and record-setting 200-yard medley relay team.