Six finalists have been selected for the Walter Byers Scholarships, which will be awarded this spring by the Association.

The NCAA's Walter Byers Scholarship Committee will interview the finalists -- three male and three female -- in April. Two recipients will be selected to receive a $12,500 scholarship from the NCAA. 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.

This year's women's finalists are Catherine L'Armand, a track and cross country runner at Widener University who has been named to several academic all-America teams; Ginger Denison, a track athlete at Furman University who is a USA Today academic all-American; and Anna Hallbergson, a Barry University tennis player who is an athletics and academic all-American.

The men's finalists are Parsa Bonderson, who began his water polo career at the University of California, Los Angeles, as a walk-on and ended up helping the Bruins win two NCAA titles; Matthew Busbee, an Auburn University swimmer who is a four-time Southeastern Conference champion; and Craig Pierstorff, a University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, football standout who was named the Woody Hayes Scholar-Athlete of the year in Division III.

Award recipients must have 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.

Last year's Byers scholarship recipients were track and field athletes Gladys Ganiel from Providence College and Calvin Thigpen from the University of Mississippi.