INDIANAPOLIS—Wartburg women’s soccer player, Katy Wendt (Bettendorf) received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, the NCAA office announced today.

Wendt, a psychology major with a 3.99 GPA, becomes the 33^rd student-athlete from Wartburg and first from the women’s soccer program to earn this award. Her award also continues a string of nine Knights in nine years to receive this scholarship.

“As a program we are extremely proud and happy for Katy,” said head women’s soccer coach Tiffany Pins. “Her passion for the game of soccer and her drive for excellence have made Katy a standout in Wartburg Women’s Soccer program. She exemplifies what it means to be a Division III student-athlete and is well deserving of the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.”

She plans to attend law school at either the University of Iowa or University of Minnesota after graduating from Wartburg this May.

“Throughout my Wartburg career, balancing academics and athletics was a fairly natural process because I simply loved playing soccer and loved learning new things,” said Wendt. “I was committed to excelling in both areas and I received an immeasurable amount of help from my family, friends, teammates, coaches and professors in order to achieve my goals. 

“I feel very honored to receive the scholarship because the NCAA has such a diverse applicant pool comprised of the best student-athletes in the nation,” she continued. “I think the award reflects highly on the quality experience I have had at Wartburg both on the soccer field and in the classroom. I haven't chosen a specific area of law yet to practice in the future, but I would love to get into sports law because it would incorporate my lifelong love of athletics.”

In addition, she was also an NSCAA Third-team Scholar All-American, an NSCAA Third-team All-American, the Iowa Conference MVP, the team's MVP this season, named First-team All-Region, Academic All-Conference, Capital One Academic All-District and a Capital One Academic All-American.

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 at least 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.