It was announced yesterday that University of Redlands student-athletes Fritz Nugent (Tinley Park, IL), Natalie Calderon ’08 (Pasadena, CA), and Eric Wagar ’08 (Yakima, WA) were awarded NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships due to their academic and athletic success.

Overall, 58 postgraduate scholarships of $7,500 each were given to 29 male student-athletes and 29 female student-athletes who participated in spring sports, which include baseball, men's and women's golf, men's lacrosse, women's rowing, softball, men's and women's tennis and men's and women's outdoor track & field. Of the 58 scholarships, 19 were awarded to student-athletes at Division III schools.

Nugent currently holds a 3.95 cumulative GPA through the School of Education, in which he is pursuing a Master of Arts in Higher Education. In 2006, he completed his Bachelor of Arts with a 3.66 GPA as a Studio Arts major. He plans to use this scholarship to pursue a second master’s degree, focusing on the Fine Arts. This season, he helped the Bulldog men take second in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) by earning All-Conference honors in the 400m Hurdles, High Jump, Long Jump and as a member of the 4x100m Relay. He capped off an outstanding career at Redlands by capturing his second NCAA Individual Championship with a first-place leap of 23’ 6 ¾” in the Long Jump. Last season, he won the NCAA Decathlon Championship with a school-record total of 7,199 points. In addition, he earned six College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic awards during his career, including twice being named the College Division’s Academic All-American of the Year for Track & Field/Cross Country.

Calderon recently graduated from the University of Redlands with a 3.797 cumulative GPA as a Communicative Disorders major. She looks forward to attending graduate school in Audiology. This season, she helped the Bulldog women’s track & field team win the SCIAC Championship for the first time since 1978. This Dean’s List member alone accounted for 68 of Redlands’ 131 points by winning the Triple Jump, Long Jump, 100m Dash, 200m Dash, and 100m Hurdles, and contributing to the first-place showing of the 4x400m Relay and the second-place finish of the 4x100m Relay. She was named the SCIAC Track & Field Female Athlete of the Year for the second-consecutive season and later was crowned the Redlands Frank Serrao Senior Female Student-Athlete of the Year. In addition to owning the school records in the Long Jump and Triple Jump, she won the 2008 NCAA Championships in both events, earning back-to-back titles in the Long Jump. In 2007 and 2008, she earned CoSIDA Academic All-District and All-American honors.

Wagar also recently graduated from Redlands with an outstanding 3.87 cumulative GPA as a Chemistry major and Biology minor. He plans to attend dental school in Oregon, beginning this fall. Earlier this month, he landed on the CoSIDA Academic All-American At-Large Second Team. This season, he capped off a strong, four-year tennis career by playing #2 singles and #1 doubles for the nationally-ranked Bulldogs, earning records of 28-6 and 20-15, respectively. Wagar helped Redlands tally a 20-8 overall record, finish second in the conference and advance onto the NCAA Team Championships for the 17th-consecutive season. This two-time First Team All-SCIAC performer also earned a spot at the NCAA Individual Championships for singles. Wagar was named the 2008 Frank Serrao Male Senior Student-Athlete of the Year for Redlands and was honored with the ITA West Region Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship and Leadership Award. He is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Jim Verdieck Coach’s Award and was voted Team MVP for 2008. Wagar landed on the Dean’s List every semester of his college career and earned Phi Beta Kappa honors as a senior.

The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the Association’s most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, as well as campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership, are evaluated. 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 postgraduate study in an accredited graduate degree program.

For more information about the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, go to the Education and Research link under the Academics and Athletics tab at www.ncaa.org.