ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana senior cross country captain Becca Sund (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) has been awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.  She has enjoyed a tremendous career both on the course as well as in the classroom where she has a 3.97 GPA with a math major and Spanish minor.
 
Sund is the 32^nd student-athlete to be awarded the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in Augustana's history.  The $7,500-dollar grant is awarded by the NCAA to "student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition".
 
Throughout her prolific career at Augustana she has been the recipient of several accolades.  In her four-year cross country career she has been awarded four varsity letters, been named to the Academic All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin team four times and was a two-time team MVP.  Sund was also named the CCIW cross country "Athlete of the Week" twice throughout her tenure at Augustana.  She currently ranks seventh on the school's all-time list for 6000 meters in cross country. 
 
Sund was a vital piece to the Vikings CCIW title in 2013, the first title for Augustana since 1998, where she finished sixth overall leading the way for the Vikings.  This past season, she crossed the line first for Augustana in six of the seven races she participated in, including a first overall finish at the Wartburg Invitational.
 
In her track and field career, Sund was named to the Capital One Academic All-America third team, finished fourth in both the 1500 and 5000 at the 2014 CCIW outdoor track & field championships and is a three-time Academic All-CCIW outdoor track and field selection.  The senior was also named CCIW "Track Athlete of the Week" on 4/8/14.
 
Sund has a piece of an Augustana outdoor track and field school record in the 4 x 1600 relay with a time of 21:07.38 that was set on 4/13/13 in Decorah, Iowa. She was joined by Jessica Bacon (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.), Kate Benge (Pleasant Valley HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) and Sarahbeth Jones (Warren Township HS, Wadsworth, Ill.) on her record setting relay team.
 
Sund has served as classroom assistant at Glenview Middle School in East Moline, Illinois throughout the 2013-14 school year and has been a math tutor on the Augustana campus each of the last two years. She also serves as an admissions ambassador. She is involved in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program at Longfellow Elementary School.

 
AUGUSTANA ATHLETES WHO HAVE EARNED NCAA POST GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS
 

YEAR	ATHLETE	SPORT
1968	Jeff Maurus	Football
1970	Tim Dodge	Wrestling
1971	Ken Anderson	Football
1975	Bruce Hamming	Basketball
1976	John Stanek	Men's Track & Field
1977	Joe Thompson	Football
1986	Steve Sanders	Football
1995	Rachel Knapp	Women's Track & Field
1995	Tommy King	Football
1996	Ryan Carpenter	Football
1998	Alison Wolak	Women's Track & Field
1998	Chris Meskan	Football
2000	Mackenzie Hay	Football
2001	Kim Baier	Women's Track & Field
2002	Rudy Kovachevich	Men's Cross Country
2003	Todd Baldwin	Football
2004	Manda Geerts	Women's Track & Field
2005	Steve Broski	Baseball
2006	Nick Johnson	Men's Track & Field
2007	Meghan Voiland	Women's Track & Field
2007	Samantha Knox	Softball
2009	Keli Coleman	Women's Track & Field
2009	John Wagle	Baseball
2009	Blaine Westemeyer	Football
2010	Max Petersen	Men's Track & Field
2012	Matt Bowman	Men's Track & Field
2013	Greg Patton	Men's Track & Field
2013	Sarahbeth Jones	Women's Track & Field
2014	Maggie Hoscheit	Women's Soccer
2014	Erik Westerberg	Football
2015	Josh Eisenberg	Men's Track & Field
2015	Becca Sund	Women's Cross Country