INDIANAPOLIS (July 1) - Laura Widman, a two-time track & field All-America from Seattle Pacific University, has been awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.

Widman (Sr., Colfax, Wa.) is a recipient of a $6,900 postgraduate scholarship, one of 58 awarded to spring sports participants in Divisions I, II and III.

A psychology major who graduated last month with a 3.66 grade point average, Widman becomes the 15th Seattle Pacific athlete to earn an NCAA Postgraduate scholarship and the fifth from the SPU track program in the last six years. The only other spring recipient from a Northwest school was Washington State's Ellannee Richardson.

In 2003 Widman qualified for her fourth NCAA Championships in the heptathlon. She finished as high as second nationally in 2000 and was also All-America in 1999.

Widman has received numerous major awards throughout her career. She was the 2000 SPU Athlete of the Year and in May she was given the Falcon Award for Excellence, the highest institutional career honor for achievement in athletics, academics and leadership. She was a three-time champion and the outstanding track athlete in the Pacific West Conference in 2000.

Academically, Widman was all-region in 2002 and academic all-conference three years.

In addition to the spring sport honorees, the NCAA also awards 116 postgraduate scholarships to student-athletes participating in fall and winter sports in which the NCAA conducts championships, for a total of 174 postgraduate scholarships annually.