HAVERFORD, Pa. – Recent Haverford College Graduate Avi Bregman '14 has become the 27th student-athlete at Haverford to receive the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Haverford's most recent award winner earned the honor following the conclusion of the outdoor track & field season.
Bregman's honor comes just months after the announcement that teammate Christopher Stadler '14 also earned this prestigious scholarship following the conclusion of the indoor track & field season. In total, the men's cross country and track & field teams at Haverford have now had 12 different individuals honored as NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients. That total includes five within the past five years.
As an athletic department, Haverford has had at least one student-athlete earn an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship during each of the past seven academic years. This marks just the sixth time, and first since 2011, that two Haverford student-athletes have earned Postgraduate Scholarships during the same school year.
The NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 each for men and women. Recognizing student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are at least in their final year of intercollegiate athletics, the scholarships are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. There are 29 scholarships (one-time grants of $7,500) available for both men and women each sports season (fall, winter, spring).
During the 2014 outdoor track & field season, Bregman earned his second consecutive All-America certificate in the steeplechase as he placed fourth in the country for the second straight season. During his time at Haverford, Bregman was also a three-time Centennial Conference Champion in the steeplechase. In an event that has been historically dominated by the Fords at the Centennial Conference meet, Bregman became the first-ever three-time winner in that event in conference history. Bregman finished his career as a five-time first-team All-Centennial Conference honoree with two more all-conference nods coming in his final two cross country seasons.
In addition to his pair of All-American certificates, Bregman was five-time NCAA qualifier across the three running seasons. He was a two-time NCAA qualifier in cross country, placing a career-best 50th overall this past fall. He just missed another All-America certificate during his senior indoor track & field season with a ninth-place finish in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Championship before excelling during the spring season in the steeplechase. He graduates with the school record in the steeplechase (8:51.30).
In the classroom, Bregman was a nine-time honoree on the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll. He was also a three-time honoree on the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area team. He earned that honor twice for cross country and once for this past track & field season.
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. An equitable approach is employed in reviewing each applicant's nomination form to provide opportunity to all student-athlete nominees to receive the postgraduate 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 postgraduate study in an accredited graduate degree program.