May 25, 2010
(portions courtesy of Ryan Workman, Coe College sports information director, and Mark Adkins, Wartburg College sports information director)

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana . . . The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has announced that recently that Wartburg College track & field athlete Hannah Baker (Keota, Iowa/Keota) and Coe College wrestler Rob Kramer (Swisher, Iowa/Cedar Rapids Prairie) have been awarded NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships. The NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women.

The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The one-time grants of $7,500 each are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. Each sports season (fall, winter and spring), there are 29 scholarships available for men and 29 scholarships available for women. The scholarships are one-time, non-renewable grants.

Hannah Baker, Wartburg College
Baker is a combined 12-time indoor and outdoor All-American. She has been part of four national championship relays teams indoors and outdoors as well. Baker has also excelled in the classroom, being named CoSIDA (Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America)/ESPN The Magazine College Division Academic All-America® in 2008 and 2009, earning all-academic honors from the Iowa Conference in Spring 2007 and 2008 and being named to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA)’s all-academic team in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Baker is planning on continuing her education next fall at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in genetic counseling.

The award continues an impressive stretch for the college, as Wartburg has had at least one NCAA post-graduate scholar in each of the last seven years. The institution’s all-time total is 30 with 23 of those being presented since 1991.

Rob Kramer, Coe College
Kramer was a two-time All-American for the Kohawks at 197 pounds.  Kramer posted 30-win seasons all four years as a Kohawk and holds the school record for career falls.  He also ranks second in career wins.

Kramer has accepted a position at a local engineering firm and will pursue a graduate degree in Civil Engineering in the near future.

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.

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