Emory University seniors Jason McCartney (Raleigh, NC) and Gabrielle Stravach (Westfield, NJ) have been named fall recipients of the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, bestowed upon student-athletes who excel academically and athletically, while also serving as leaders in the community.
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, a $7,500 scholarship to be applied toward the graduate degree program of McCartney’s and Stravach’s choice, is awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically, and are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.
Emory has been awarded 111 postgraduate scholarships over the school's history, and its 94 since 2000 is second only to Stanford University for the highest total by any NCAA member.
A four-year member of the men’s soccer program, McCartney enjoyed a stellar career, culminated by a third-team selection on the 2017 United Soccer Coaches All-America Team. McCartney played his way to three All-University Athletic Association berths, capturing first-team accolades his final two seasons, and was tabbed to a pair of All-South Atlantic Region Teams. This past year he led the squad in goals (13) and points (29) for the second straight campaign, finishing third among UAA leaders in the former and fourth in the latter. He played a pivotal role in helping the Eagles compile an overall record of 15-5-2, with the team reaching the Round of Eight in the NCAA D-III Tournament for just the second time in school history. He was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as a 2017 First Team Academic All-American after recording third-team recognition as a junior. Career-wise, he played in a total of 73 games, 69 as a starter, and notched 23 goals (20th on the school’s all-time list) and 13 assists for 59 points. McCartney was nominated for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship with a 3.92 grade-point average as a biology major with a Russian minor. He is the fourth player in the history of the program to have received a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, joining Kevin McCarthy (2004), John Symbas (1999) and Ahmed Mohyeldin (1998).
A four-year veteran of the women’s cross country team, Stravach was named the squad’s Most Outstanding Performer for the second straight season after ranking as the squad’s No. 1 runner in all seven of her competitions. The highlight of her year came at the NCAA D-III Championships when she became just the seventh Eagle in program history to capture All-America honors after posting a 10th-place finish out of 279 entries, the second-best showing by an Emory runner at nationals. She raced to all-region honors for the third straight season after crossing the finish line in the No. 1 position out of 240 competitors at the NCAA South/Southeast Championships, becoming the seventh Emory runner to accomplish that feat after clocking a school-record 6K time of 20:59. Named the South/Southeast Region Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, Stravach also garnered First Team All-University Athletic Association honors after racing to a second-place finish at the league championships. Nominated with a GPA of 3.76 as a neuroscience and behavioral biology major with a minor in linguistics, Stravach is a two-time member of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team. In 2016, she was the recipient of Emory’s Sonny Carter Scholarship.
A total of 174 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships are awarded annually, 87 for men and 87 for women. Fifty-eight (29 men, 29 women) scholarships are announced after each fall, winter and sports season and stretch across NCAA Division I, II and III institutions.