Cobbers Have Three Fall Athletes Earn NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship!
- Complete list of men's award-winners - Complete list of women's award-winners
MOORHEAD-- Three Concordia fall athletes were awarded a prestigious NCAA postgraduate scholarship. Nick Myran (Sr., Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS) from the cross-country team, Jordan Talge (Sr., Moorhead, Minn.) of the Cobber football team and Jessica Walden (Sr., Hawley, Minn.) from volleyball all earned the $7,500 award sponsored by the NCAA.

Concordia had the most athletes awarded the scholarship of any NCAA Division I, II or III institution. The list of colleges or universities that had athletes win awards included: Duke University, Stanford University, Boston College and North Dakota State University. The three Cobber award-winners also represent the most by any MIAC school in a single season. 

The trio was part of a contingent of seven MIAC student-athletes to earn the award in a fall sport. The MIAC garnered seven of the 56 overall awards given in fall sports and had the most selections of any single conference, with the Big 12 (five), University Athletic Association (three) and Pac-10 (three) following the MIAC.

Joining Myran, Walden and Talge as MIAC award-winners were Bethel’s Matt Wassink (football), Carleton's Katie Freeman (volleyball), Gustavus’s Rachel Batalden (volleyball) and St. Thomas’s Brigid Power (cross country).

Myran is one of the most successful athletes to compete in cross-country in the history of the program at Concordia. He became the first Cobber men's cross country athlete to qualify for the national meet this past fall since 1992. He earned All-Region honors in 2004 and 2003, and is a two-time all-conference performer. Myran is also a successful track and field athlete. He qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Meet in 2004 and won all-conference honors in the 1500 meters.

Walden is a record-setting performer in volleyball for Concordia. She was a captain on the Cobber volleyball team that won back-to-back MIAC tournament championships and competed in the NCAA tournament in two consecutive seasons. She is the school's all-time leader in assists in a career, assists in a single season and assists in a single match. She was named the MIAC Most Valuable Player in 2004 and was named to the MIAC All-Conference Team for the third straight year. In addition, she earned All-American Honorable Mention honors for the first time in her career and was named to the All-Region First Team for the first time ever. She finished her career by being named to the prestigious ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Team.

Talge is one of the most decorated players in the history of Concordia football. As a senior captain he helped lead Concordia to their first outright MIAC championship since the 1986 season. He was named to the D3football.com All-American First Team, the Football Gazette All-American First Team as well as the Associated Press Little All-American Second Team. On top of all the All-American awards, he was also a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, which honors the top player in NCAA Division III.  He became the first Concordia player in program history to be named as a finalist since the award started in 1993. He also became the first player in five years to be named as an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American.

The NCAA has awarded 56 postgraduate scholarships of $7,500 each to 28 male student-athletes and 28 female student-athletes who participated in fall sports, which included women’s badminton (emerging sport), men's and women's cross country, women's field hockey, football, women’s rugby (emerging sport), men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball and men's water polo.

In addition to the fall sport honorees, the NCAA also awards 116 postgraduate scholarships to student-athletes participating in winter and spring sports in which the NCAA conducts championships or participates in as an emerging sport, for a total of 174 postgraduate scholarships annually.

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 must have behaved, both on and off the field, in a manner that has brought credit to the student-athlete, the institution and intercollegiate athletics. The student-athlete also must intend to continue academic work beyond the baccalaureate degree as a full-time or part-time graduate student.