INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- St. Catherine University swimming and diving standout
Sydney Grohman has been awarded the prestigious National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Postgraduate Scholarship.
"I am beyond honored to have been chosen as a recipient for this scholarship. When I was told about the opportunity I at first didn't think it was real", said Grohman. "I am not someone that necessarily thinks my accomplishments are grave enough for anything of this sort."
To qualify for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, student-athletes must excel academically and athletically, be in their final year of eligibility and plan to pursue graduate study. Student-athletes must also maintain at least a 3.2 grade-point average and be nominated by their institution's faculty athletics representative. Created in 1964, NCAA postgraduate scholarships promote and encourage education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes.
Grohman intends to use the scholarship to complete her Master of Arts Degree in Occupational Therapy. She began the MAOT program at St. Catherine in the summer of 2020 is set to graduate in December 2022.
Athletically, Grohman graduates as a 3x All-American, a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) team champion, and a 4x MIAC champion. In her four years, Grohman was part of three relay program records, two MIAC relay record, two conference meet records, and holds three all-time top-10 individual times. She was named MIAC All-Conference six times in her career, is a 3x MIAC All-Conference Honorable Mention selection. She also earned MIAC Academic All-Conference and was named Scholar All-America in both her sophomore and junior seasons while qualifying for the NCAA Division III Championships in each of those seasons.
"Throughout the past four years, swimming has helped me reach heights unimaginable and although the journey has not been easy it was all worth it. It helped me meet lifelong friends that push me in many different ways; they have helped me get to where I am today. I've also been pushed academically and made bonds with my professors I never thought possible. For that, I am forever thankful for St. Kate's. My time here has helped me continue on my path to becoming the best OT I can be. I now know the importance of hard work, dedication, but also life balance. Wherever life takes me, I know I will forever remember St. Kate's as my home for the past four years. I would not be writing this today without the support of my family, friends, teammates, coaches, and professors. I will forever be grateful for this journey that has helped open my eyes to many things in life and am beyond excited for the journey ahead of me."
Grohman arrived at St. Catherine in head coach Justin Zook's first official season in the fall of 2017. Zook said about Grohman, "I was trying to find some words to describe the journey with Sydney over the last four years and so I took a journey back in time to when we announced her recruiting class. I laugh now reading the things I said about Syd because I mentioned she was a little shy upon first meeting her! Over the last several years Sydney has taken monumental strides in her personal growth as a student-athlete. She is regularly a vocal leader in the pool and weight room, along with being consistently one of the hardest working during practices. Her dedication in the pool is matched by an incredible work ethic inside the classroom, as she continuously is one of the highest grade point averages on the team. In this job you gamble a bit when you are recruiting. You have a vision of how each student-athlete will progress through the program, very much like several chapters of a book or short story. I had very few words of wisdom this year for our seniors as I cannot imagine ending a career the way we were needed to do so. Rather, I try to look at what we all accomplished together the first three seasons together. Sydney was an incremental part in bringing the St. Kate's program back to the NCAA Championships, as well as delivering home the first ever MIAC Championship in 2020. A tribute to Sydney and her 2017 incoming classmates, the Wildcats have earned a team grade point average ranking in the top 10 nationally since they all stepped foot on campus. I am not sure Sydney believed much of what was coming out of my mouth during our recruiting phase about her being someone who could be an Academic All-American. I am happy and thankful she chose to give us her very best in and out of the pool. Her dedication to the process more than the result will be something I hope stays with her for a long time! Standing on the deck watching her help lead our program to new heights was a privilege and I will certainly miss having her around in the future. No journey is all sunshine and rainbows, but I am incredibly thankful and proud Sydney chose to end well."
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.
