March 24, 2004

Release: Upon Receipt

NCAA Names Rebekah Potts Finalist for Walter Byers Scholarship Award

GREENVILLE, South Carolina -- Furman cross country's Rebekah Potts has been named one of six finalists for the Walter Byers Scholarship Award, the NCAA announced on Wednesday. The Walter Byers Scholarship is one of the most prestigious honors the NCAA bestows on student-athletes in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements and future success in their postgraduate studies and planned careers.

The NCAA selects one male and one female student-athlete as its Walter Byers Scholars each year. The Byers Scholars each receive a $21,500 scholarship to be used for graduate school and have an option for renewing the scholarship in their second year of school if they are in good academic standing and a full-time student during that second year of study. The NCAA will select the two Walter Byers Scholars April 26.

Rebekah Potts has achieved a 4.0 GPA as a chemistry major while competing on Furman’s cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track teams. Potts served as a team captain for her junior and senior years, and she was a member of Furman’s 2000 SoCon Cross Country Championship team. Potts’ many extracurricular activities include organizing a branch of Loaves and Fishes along with serving with the Student Alumni Council, Student-Athlete Advisory Council, tutoring underprivileged children, Dining Services Committee, Athletic Strategic Planning Committee, Sav-A-Life Shelby, Restoration Academy, and Camp Marannook.

A four-year letterwinner in cross country and member of the Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll, Potts posted a season-best 11th place finish in cross country at the Milliken Invitational in Spartanburg, S.C., in September.

The five finalists joining Potts are Georgia's Corrin Drakulich, Auburn's Caesar Garcia, New England's Melissa Stults, Puerto Rico's Joaquin Zalacain and Ohio State football standout Craig Krenzel.

Potts was named an NCAA PostGraduate Scholarship recipient earlier this month and became the first Furman athlete since Lady Paladin volleyball standout Jennifer Wilson to be awarded the Southern Conference's Dorothy Hicks Scholarship.