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June 25, 2010

2009-2010 Season - Petersen wins NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship

Max Petersen became the 25th student-athlete in Augustana history to win an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. The track & field standout was also a two time ESPN - The Magazine Academic All-American.

When it comes to the phrase “student-athlete” the picture of Max Petersen (Mundelein HS, Mundelein, Ill.) could be next to the definition in any dictionary. Petersen, who recently graduated from Augustana with majors in bio-chemistry, pre-medicine and religion, was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, it was announced today. The $7,500-dollar grant is awarded by the NCAA to “student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.”

Petersen is one of the most unique success stories in the long and storied annals of Augustana athletics. He came to campus in the fall of 2006 with a tremendous academic pedigree but he had been a non-descript high school athlete at Mundelein High School in Mundelein, Illinois. In his first two years with the Vikings he earned varsity letters and showed promise but it was during his junior year that he really caught fire on the track.

He won the 100 and 200 in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin in 2009 and also ran a leg on the Vikings 400 relay team that captured the CCIW title. He was named to the ESPN – The Magazine Academic All-American team in 2009.

During his senior year he served as team captain for veteran head coach Paul Olsen’s Vikings and he was instrumental in leading Augustana to the CCIW championship. In a stirring comeback that saw the Vikings come from 70 points down on the second day to nip North Central, the NCAA Division III national champion in both indoor and outdoor track & field, Petersen was a major contributor. He placed second in the 100, third in the 200 and ran the leadoff leg on the winning 400 relay team. Earlier in the year, he was the second in the CCIW indoor championship in the 55 meter dash.

Petersen was named co-MVP for track events by a vote of his teammates and once again he was named to the ESPN – The Magazine Academic All-American team. After making the second team in 2009, he moved up to the first team this year.

Academically, Petersen has been a research intern on five separate projects since October of 2006 and he is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa national honor society. He has logged nearly 100 hours of volunteer work at a local trauma center. He also worked for a month at pediatric clinic in Guatemala in August of 2008. He scored a 41R on his MCAT placing him in the 99.7 th percentile overall. Petersen graduated in May with a 3.98 grade point average majoring in biochemistry and religion. In August of 2010 Petersen will begin a M.D./Ph.D. program at Yale University. He was chosen by the Swedish Council of America as its Glenn T. Seaborg Science Award winner for 2010. As part of the award, Max will travel to Sweden this December to be a representative of U.S. college and university students at the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar, during which he will attend the Nobel Prize Banquet hosted by the King and Queen of Sweden.

Because of his combination of athletic and academic accomplishments he earned the Knut Erickson Award, which is given to the top male and female senior blanket award winner with the highest grade point average. More recently, Petersen was named the winner of the Jack Swartz Award which is produced by the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and is given to one male and one female athlete at the end of each athletic season that was outstanding in athletics and academics.

The son of Mark and Cynthia Petersen of Mundelein, Illinois, Max is one of just 29 student-athletes across the country to earn the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for the spring sports. Of those 29, nine were from NCAA Division III institutions. He is 25 th Augustana student-athlete to win the honor, dating back to the first Viking recipient, which was Jeff Maurus in 1968. Petersen is the second Augustana winner in the 2009-10 school year, joining football standout Blaine Westemeyer from the fall sports.

2010 NCAA POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS – SPRING SPORTS

AUGUSTANA ATHLETES WHO HAVE EARNED NCAA POST GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS