HAVERFORD, Pa. – Haverford Men's Cross Country and Track & Field Senior Henry Woods has been awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, the NCAA announced on Friday afternoon. Woods is the 31st student-athlete from Haverford to receive the prestigious award.
Woods becomes the first cross country honoree from Haverford since both Avi Bregman and Chris Stadler received postgraduate scholarships in 2014.
Woods was named a USTFCCCA All-America selection for the second straight season in 2017 after an 18th place finish at the NCAA Division III National Championships in Elsah, Ill. Haverford finished in eighth place overall in the national meet. In 2016, Woods finished 22nd to pick up All-America honors as the team finished 18th nationally. Woods is a three-time All-Mideast Region finisher and was named Centennial Conference Runner of the Year after capturing the individual conference title with a time of 25:12.5 in October.
In Track & Field, Woods was an NCAA qualifier in the outdoor 5,000 meter a season ago, and was named All-Conference and All-Region in the distance. The philosophy major has garnered a bevy of academic awards including a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection in 2016-17. Woods was named to the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area team in the 2016 cross country season, 2017 track & field season and the 2017 cross country season.
In addition, Woods is a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic selection in cross country and a three-time selection in Track & Field. Woods has also been named to the Centennial Conference Honor Roll in each season of eligibility.
The NCAA awards Postgraduate Scholarships to student-athletes who are in their final year of college athletics eligibility. Up to 175 scholarships are awarded each year for use toward an accredited graduate program. Awardees are evaluated on their academic and athletic achievement, campus involvement, community service, and volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership. The program rewards college athletes whose dedication and effort reflect the characteristics needed to succeed in graduate study.
Awardees are chosen by the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee, which includes faculty athletics representatives, athletics administrators and a conference commissioner.
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 programs.