March 8, 2002 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Calvin Athlete earns highest academic honor
GRAND RAPIDS, MI- Calvin College senior Joel Klooster has been awarded a 2002
NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Klooster is one of 58 athletes awarded
scholarships at the NCAA I, II and III levels in fall sports, which included
men's and women's cross country, women's field hockey, football, women's
volleyball, men's and women's soccer and men's water polo. The
scholarships are one-time grants of $5,000 and are not renewable.
To qualify for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, a student-athlete must have an
overall grade-point average of 3.200 (on a 4.000 scale) or its equivalent and
must have performed with distinction as a member of the varsity team in the
sport in which the student-athlete was nominated. The student-athlete must have
behaved, both on and off the field, in a manner that has brought credit to the
student-athlete, the institution and intercollegiate athletics. The
student-athlete also must intend to continue academic work beyond the
baccalaureate degree as a full-time or part-time graduate student.
Klooster hails from Chatham, Ontario and is a graduate of Chatham Christian
High School. Over the past four years, Klooster has been a mainstay of the
Calvin men's cross country team, helping the Knights to four consecutive MIAA
and Great Lakes Regional titles as well as four consecutive top-four national
finishes. As a junior in 2000, Klooster was a key member of a Calvin men's
cross country team that captured its first-ever national championship as he
earned All-America accolades with a 10th place individual finish. Klooster then
received All-America honors for the second straight year this past fall as he
took 24th at the NCAA III Championships, helping the Knights earn national
runner-up honors. Klooster was also a member of Calvin's national runner-up
squad in 1998 and Calvin's 1999 team that placed fourth nationally. A
three-time All-MIAA 1st team selection in cross country, Klooster was named the
MIAA's MVP in 1999. He also received All-MIAA 2nd team honors in cross
country in 1998 and has been a member of the Great Lakes All-Region team in
1999, 2000 and 2001. In addition, he received All-MIAA honors in men's track
and field in 2000 as he captured the league title in the 10,000 meters that
spring. He continued on to earn All-America accolades at the NCAA III Track and
Field Championships later that spring as he took fourth in the 5,000 meters.
An electrical engineering major with a minor in computer science, Klooster
carries a 3.98 grade point average. He has been named a Verizon Academic
All-American honors twice, receiving third team honors in cross country in 2000
and first team accolades in cross country in 2001. Klooster is a seven-time
member of the Calvin Dean's List, a three-time member of the MIAA Academic Honor
Roll and a tree-time recipient of the College Cross Country Coaches All-Academic
award. While a student, Klooster has helped design computer labs across the
Calvin campus and has also served as an employee at the Smith Industries
Aerospace corporation in Kentwood, Michigan.
Klooster is the seventh individual in Calvin athletic history to receive an
NCAA post-graduate scholarship including the fourth cross country athlete,
joining John Brink, Ray Van Arragon and Amy Kuipers who previously received the
award. He also joins Van Arragon (Guelph, Ontario) as the second Canadian to
receive the award at Calvin.
Calvin NCAA Postgraduate Scholars
Mark Veenstra, 1977, Basketball
John Brink, 1983, Cross Country & Track
Pete VandeBrake, 1987, Track & Field
Steve Honderd, 1992, Basketball
Ray VanArragon, 1995, Cross Country & Track
Amy Kuipers, 1996, Cross Country & Track
Joel Klooster, 2002, Cross Country
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Mar 08 2002 - 18:57:55 EST