Connor Ziegler
Trevor Wittwer
Margaret Dorer
Gustavus Adolphus College student athletes Margaret Dorer, Trevor Wittwer, and Connor Ziegler have been selected to receive postgraduate scholarships from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Dorer (ice hockey), Wittwer (basketball), and Ziegler (swimming) are among a group of 58 student athletes that compete in a winter sport in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III to receive a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship. Gustavus was one of only three institutions in the entire NCAA (the others were Stanford University and Washington University of St. Louis) to have three student athletes receive scholarships this winter.
Since the start of the 2004-05 academic year, Gustavus ranks third for the most postgraduate scholars among all NCAA schools (Divisions I, II, and III). With 14 postgraduate scholars during that timespan, Gustavus only ranks behind Stanford University and Emory University. Gustavus has had a total of 24 student athletes receive NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships since football player James Goodwin became the first in 1974.
To qualify for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, a student-athlete must have an overall grade-point average of 3.200 (on a 4.000 scale) or its equivalent and must have performed with distinction as a member of the varsity team in the sport in which the student-athlete was nominated. The student-athlete also must intend to continue academic work beyond the baccalaureate degree as a graduate student.
The NCAA awarded 58 postgraduate scholarships of $7,500 each to 29 male student-athletes and 29 female student-athletes from all three divisions (I, II, and III) who participated in winter sports. Those sports included men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s fencing, men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s rifle, men’s and women’s skiing, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, women’s archery, women’s bowling, women’s squash, women’s team handball, and men’s wrestling.
A native of St. Paul, Minn., Dorer was a four-year regular as a defender for the Gustavus women’s hockey team and a 2007 First Team All-America performer. Dorer scored 26 goals and registered 65 assists for 91 points in 101 games in her career. Her 65 career assists rank sixth all-time at Gustavus, while her 91 points rank ninth all-time.
A Phi Beta Kappa honoree, Dorer is a Scandinavian studies and psychology double major with a 3.89 grade point average. She is a three-time academic all-conference selection and a 2007 CoSIDA Academic All-America honoree. In addition to her success on the rink and in the classroom, Dorer has been an active volunteer working at the Children’s Home Society and Family Services as well as taking part in the Gustavus Athletes in Action service program.
A health and exercise science major with a 3.89 grade point average, Trevor Wittwer was a four-year standout for the Gustavus men’s basketball team. A finalist for the 2008 Josten’s Division III Player of the Year Award, Wittwer finished his career ranked 21st on the Gustavus all-time scoring list with 1,172 points. He also ranks fourth all-time in career blocks with 97 fourth all-time in steals withh 128.
The Redwood Falls, Minn. native was a two-time all-conference selection (2007, 2008) and the 2006 MIAC Sixth Man of the Year. Wittwer was named to the academic all-conference team three times (2006, 2007, 2008), the CoSIDA Academic All-District team twice (2007, 2008) and this past year he was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team.
Off the court, Wittwer has been active in the community as he spearheaded the basketball team’s effort to re-build a playground that was destroyed by the floods in Rushford, Minn. and is an organizing member of the Elias Fund, which is a Gustavus group that raises money to build schools in Zimbabwe.
A four-year all-conference performer on the Gustavus men’s swimming team, Connor Ziegler was the conference champion in the 200 butterfly in 2006, finished second in 2007, and third in 2008. He qualified for the NCAA Championships three times in the 200 butterfly in his career placing 16th in 2006, 10th in 2007, and 13th in 2008. He was a key member of MIAC Championship teams in 2005, 2006, and 2008 and a part of teams that finished 11th at the NCAA Championships in 2006, fifth in 2007, and 12th in 2008.
A Sauk Rapids, Minn. native, Ziegler maintains a 3.71 grade point average while majoring in biology. He has been a three-time academic all-conference selection, and a three-time All-American Scholar honoree by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Out of the pool, Ziegler organized and directed a fraternity project that raised over $7,000 for juvenile diabetes and was a group leader for a Habitat for Humanity team that traveled to southern Louisiana after the hurricanes in the spring of 2007.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510