Mercurio, Stephenson Receive NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships

Nebraska track and field triple jumper Angela Mercurio and gymnast Anton Stephenson have been selected to receive 2018-19 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships.

NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners receive a one-time grant of $10,000. To qualify, they must be in their final year of eligibility and plan to pursue graduate studies within the next year. In addition to maintaining at least a 3.2 grade-point average, they must perform with distinction in their sport and be nominated by their institution's faculty athletics representative.

Stephenson, a four-time All-American and 2018 NCAA vault runner-up from the Husker men's gymnastics program, captured first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America accolades last week. The 2019 Nebraska Male Student-Athlete of the Year, Stephenson posted a 3.97 grade-point average as a nutrition and health sciences major. An All-American on vault and in the all-around as a senior for the Huskers in 2019, Stephenson led Coach Chuck Chmelka's team to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships - its best team showing since 1999.

A three-time Big Ten vault champion and a Big Ten parallel bars champion during his career, Stephenson was Nebraska's Big Ten Medal of Honor winner this season. The Fishers, Indiana native was also honored by the conference as the winner of both a Wayne Duke Postgraduate Scholarship and a Big Ten Postgraduate Scholarship. He was a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and named a Nebraska Outstanding Scholar in 2019.

Stephenson became the 13th Husker men's gymnast in history to claim CoSIDA Academic All-America honors and the first since Ethan Lottman earned second-team accolades in 2015. He is the men's gymnastics team's first first-team honoree since Stephen Tetrault in 2008. 

Mercurio was a second-team CoSIDA Academic All-American last year and is once again a nominee for Academic All-America honors this year with a 3.99 GPA. A four-time USTFCCCA All-Academic selection, Mercurio received her bachelor's degree in biochemistry & women's and gender studies in May. The Kitchener, Ontario native was a three-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, and she received three Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Awards. A three-time All-American, Mercurio won the Big Ten indoor triple jump title in 2019 with a personal-best mark of 43-6 (13.26m), the No. 6 jump in NU history. She made her second career appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships and was a USTFCCCA Second-Team All-American after finishing ninth in the triple jump. 

The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage graduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership are evaluated. An equitable approach is employed in reviewing an applicant's nomination form to provide all student-athlete nominees an opportunity to receive the graduate 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 graduate study.