The NCAA News - News and Features

March 31, 1997

Six finalists announced for Walter Byers Scholarships

Selections consist of one football, two volleyball and three track student-athletes

Six student-athletes -- three men and three women -- have been selected as finalists for the two Walter Byers Scholarships that will be awarded in April by the Association.

The finalists, who were selected by the NCAA Walter Byers Scholarship Committee, will travel to St. Louis for interviews with the committee April 6 and 7. The two recipients of the annual awards are expected to be named at that time.

The six finalists include three track and field athletes, two volleyball players, and a football participant. They represent all three NCAA membership divisions.

The men's finalists are Bryan Graham, an all-Eastern College Athletic Conference cross country and track participant from Tufts University; Scott Keane, last year's Conference USA men's track and field scholar-athlete of the year from the University of Cincinnati; and consensus Division II football all-American Timothy Tibesar from the University of North Dakota.

Female finalists feature Christina Jill Burness, a volleyball player from Texas Tech University who was chosen to lead the GTE Academic All-American team as university division team member of the year; Heidi Jarecki, a member of two national-championship outdoor track teams at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh; and volleyball player Marya Morusiewicz, Barry University's all-time leader in aces and digs and a member of Barry's 1995 national-championship squad.

Each Byers scholar receives a $10,000 scholarship from the Association. The awards were established in 1988 to recognize the contributions of the former NCAA executive director by encouraging excellence in academic performance by student-athletes.

Award recipients are required to have at least a 3.500 grade-point average (4.000 scale), show evidence of superior character and leadership, and demonstrate that participation in athletics has been a positive influence on personal and intellectual development, among other qualifications.