May 3, 2005
Columbia, S.C. – University of South Carolina track and field senior Jenny Lake has been named as a recipient of the 2005 NCAA postgraduate scholarship for her academic achievement and on and off the track performance.
Lake, a 2005 team captain, is one of 28 female winter sport student-athletes who will receive the post-graduate scholarship for $7,500.
“We’re proud of Jenny Lake as a student, a person and an athlete,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. “She is one of the most outstanding students that we’ve had and she fits into a category with former athletes like Keith Hall and Otukile Lekote who have all achieved so much success academically. We’re proud of having a rich history of outstanding student-athletes in the sport of track and field. Jenny Lake has set the bar as high as you can get with a 4.0 cumulative GPA. I would like to thank our faculty representative Dr. Russ Pate and Assistant Athletics Director Kim Abbot for putting Jenny Lake’s name forward to compete for this prestigious scholarship.”
The All-Academic All-American senior from Geneseo, Ill is majoring in mathematics and has a cumulative grade point average of 4.0 She was recently recognized as USC’s 2005 Female Scholar Athlete and is one of two recipients of the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Postgraduate Scholarship. The SEC has presented the McWhorter Scholarship to the league’s top male and female scholar-athletes since 1996.
As a member of the Carolina Honors College, Lake has made the President’s List (4.00 GPA) in every semester. In 2003 and 2004, she was named USC’s Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was a member of the 2003-04 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team for Track & Field, voted by CoSIDA. She has been the recipient of the McNair Scholar Award, USC’s most prestigious academic award based on scholastic achievement, leadership and character. She is a member of the Pi Mu Epsilon National Honorary Mathematics Society and the Pi Beta Kappa Honor Society.
“I am so honored to have been awarded an NCAA post-graduate scholarship,” Lake said. ” I never expected to receive so much compensation for my commitments as a student-athlete – the rewards of my years at USC far outweigh the sacrifices I’ve made for athletics. I owe much of my success to the support I’ve received from those around me. I’ve been blessed with amazing professors, advisors, and coaches. Additionally, I’m deeply indebted to the athletic department administration for all of the recognition I’ve received for my efforts. My time at USC has flown by and I’m sad to be leaving South Carolina, but I certainly could never have hoped for a better collegiate experience.”
Lake has committed to Washington University in St. Louis to pursue a PhD in mathematics. She is aspiring to become a professor at a prestigious university, such as the University of South Carolina.
Qualifications for the scholarship include: the student athlete must have at least a 3.2 grade point average, must perform with distinction on a sports varsity team, must have intention to continue to pursue educational opportunities beyond the baccalaureate degree as a full-time or part-time graduate student, and the student-athlete must have behaved on and off the field in a manner that brought credit to the student-athlete, the institution and intercollegiate athletics.
