Northwestern University Athletics
Amy Balcerzak Receives NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
7/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
July 12, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - Amy Balcerzak, a former Northwestern University women's swimmer who graduated recently, was named today as the recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. As a result, she will be awarded a $5,000 gift to be used toward graduate studies in the future.
Balcerzak -- a 20-time All-America (11 individual, 9 relay) and six-time Big Ten champion -- graduated in June with a degree in biological sciences. Currently, she is competing in USA Swimming's Cadillac Challenge Swim Series in preparation for August's U.S. Olympic Trials.
The prestigious scholarship caps off a spectacular college career for Balcerzak, in the pool and in the classroom.
At this year's NCAA Championships, she earned All-America honors in five events and broke two school records in leading the Wildcats to a best-ever sixth-place finish. She finished second and set a school mark in the 100-meter breaststroke, her best finish ever at NCAA's, and also set a school standard in the 200 individual medley. In addition, Balcerzak was a member of record-setting teams in both the 200 and 400 medley relays.
At the Big Ten Championships in February, Balcerzak swept the breaststroke events -- setting a Big Ten Championships record in the 100 -- and was also a member of NU's 200 medley relay team that established a Big Ten Championships mark. Overall, she finished second among all swimmers with 57 points to lead the Wildcats to a third-place finish for the second year in a row.
In the classroom, Balcerzak was a first-team GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America in the women's fall/winter at-large category this year, after earning third-team honors in 1998-99. In addition, she is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and a three-time Academic All-America honoree by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).
