Four NCAC Student-Athletes Receive NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced its list of 2023-24 Postgraduate Scholarship recipients and four North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) student-athletes were among the awardees. The selections included former DePauw women's soccer and track and field student-athlete Annalise Grammel (Canal Winchester, OH/The Columbus Academy), former Hiram men's basketball student-athlete Jacob Kowal (Wyandotte, MI/Gabriel Richard), and former Wooster student-athletes Lake Barrett (Columbia, SC/Hammond School), who compete in football, and Athena Tharenos (St. Louis, MO/Mary Institute & St. Louis Country Day School), who competed in women's cross country and track and field.
 
The NCAA awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are at least in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The one-time non-renewable scholarships of $10,000 are awarded three times a year, corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter and spring). Each sports season, there are 21 scholarships available for men and 21 scholarships available for women for use in an accredited graduate program. All former student-athletes who earned an undergraduate degree from an NCAA member school are eligible to be nominated by that school for an NCAA graduate degree scholarship, regardless of when they received their undergraduate degree. 

In total, 222 North Coast Athletic Conference student-athletes, 123 men and 99 women, have received NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships since 1984.
 
Annalise Grammel, DePauw Women's Soccer and Track & Field
Grammel, a Biochemistry major and Management Fellow (business program), graduated from DePauw with a 3.83 grade point average. She was inducted into the Chi Alpha Sigma national scholar-athlete honor society and was a 2024 Walker Cup Finalist while also being named to the DePauw Dean's List, Tiger Pride Honor Roll, NCAC Academic Honor Roll and the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. Most recently, she was selected DePauw's 2024 Amy Hasbrook Award recipient, which recognizes a senior student-athlete from a women's sport who best exemplifies effort and excellence in academics, athletics, leadership, integrity, dedication to the team, campus involvement, and community service.
 
As a four-year member of the DePauw women's soccer and women's indoor and outdoor track and field teams, Grammel leaves Greencastle with seven track and field conference titles. Additionally, the multisport athlete and her teammates currently hold three track and field relay school records: the 4x400 outdoor (3:57.30), 4x400 indoor (4:01.29) and 4x200 indoor (1:46.13). She was a two-year captain in track and field and a one-year captain in soccer, while earning eight indoor track and field, six outdoor track and field and three women's soccer All-NCAC certificates throughout her career. Grammel is a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-Region Second Team selection and All-Great Lakes Region Indoor Track & Field honoree in the 4x400. The 2022 NCAC Midfielder of the Year was named to the NCAC 40th Anniversary Women's Soccer All-Decade Team in the fall of 2023.
 
Jacob Kowal, Hiram Men's Basketball
Kowal, Hiram's first-ever NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship selection, graduated with a 3.99 cumulative grade point average as a History major with a double minor in Political Science and Writing. During his time with the Terriers, Kowal made the Dean's List every semester of his collegiate career, was a member of the NCAA DIII Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, served as a writing tutor, a member of the Hiram College Garfield Center for Public Leadership, and a member of the Alpha Society and Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. This fall, he will begin his journey at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, where he will be pursuing a Master of Science in Business Analytics with a Sports Analytics concentration. After the completion of this master's degree, Kowal plans on attending law school.
 
On the court, Kowal wrapped up his career by playing in 31 games over the course of three years, which included one start his senior season. In 75 minutes of action, he recorded 16 points, seven rebounds, five steals and two assists.
 
Lake Barrett, Wooster Football
Barrett graduated with a 3.98 cumulative grade point average as a Biology and Education double major. The three-time CSC Academic All-American was also named to the Wooster AD Honor Roll, Dean's List, and NCAC Academic Honor Roll, and is a two-time National Football Foundation William V. Campbell Trophy semifinalist. Barrett was one of 10 finalists for the Fred Mitchell Award in 2023, which presented annually to the best non-NCAA Div. I Football Bowl Subdivision placekicker for a combination of elite athletics, academics, and community service.
 
The kicker wrapped up his collegiate football career as Wooster's all-time leader with 29 field goals and ranked second all-time with a 76 percent success rate on field goals. Barrett owns a 99.4 percent success rate on extra points, which rates him No. 1 in program history after going 155-for-156 over his career, making the final 134 extra-point kicks he attempted. He graduated with 242 points, the second-most among placekickers and the fifth-most overall in program history. He is the program's lone placekicker to have at least 35 extra-point makes with no misses in three different seasons and became the eighth player in program history to earn All-NCAC honors in four separate seasons last fall. In 2023, Barrett was named the NCAC Special Teams Player of the Year and earned his second D3football.com all-region honor.
 
Athena Tharenos, Wooster Women's Cross Country and Track & Field
Tharenos graduated from Wooster with a 3.98 cumulative grade point average with degrees in Anthropology, Chinese Studies, and Environmental Geoscience. During her time at Wooster, Tharenos was named to the AD Honor Roll and NCAC Academic Honor Roll twice, was a three-time United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honoree, and a two-time CSC All-District member. Additionally, the multisport athlete was selected as a 2023-24 NCAC Scholar-Athlete and received the Wooster Guldin Award. This fall, Tharenos will begin her pursuit of a Master of Philosophy degree in Developmental Studies at the University of Oxford.
 
Over her distinguished four-year career, Tharenos was a 12-time All-NCAC and 10-time All-Ohio performer across cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. As a sophomore, she earned first-team All-NCAC honors in cross country after placing sixth in the conference meet, which marked the program's top individual placement since 2006. During her senior campaign, Tharenos broke the Fighting Scots' 3,000-meter steeplechase record with a time of 11:03.59 at the NCAC Championship and lowered it to 10:58.09 at the NCAC outdoor championships to win the NCAC crown in that event. While studying abroad at The American University of Cairo, Tharenos became the Egyptian national champion in the 1,500 meters.
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage graduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership are evaluated. An equitable approach is employed in reviewing an applicant's nomination form to provide all student-athlete nominees an opportunity to receive the graduate award, regardless of sport, division, gender or race. In maintaining the highest broad-based standards in the selection process, the program aims to reward those individuals whose dedication and effort are reflective of those characteristics necessary to succeed and thrive through graduate study.

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