SARGRADISM: SCOTT TOPS OUT IN MATH AND TRACK

2004 graduate track star Scott Sargrad, of Glenside, Pa., probably didn't imagine what a glorious finish his college athletic career would have when he was lying on the ground last fall, having collapsed from dehydration on a hot November day in Allentown, Pa., while leading the Centennial Conference men's cross-country championship race.

Sargrad had a long recovery from that disappointing experience, but once he was fit, the Cheltenham High School graduate didn't look back. Scott went on to win the Centennial 3000-meter steeplechase championship, earn the silver medal in that event at the NCAA Division III national meet, captain three Conference championship teams at Haverford in 2003-04, graduate Magna Cum Laude with Honors in mathematics, and receive national recognition in the CoSIDA Academic All-American listings. Now, the NCAA has provided the fitting conclusion to Scott's Haverford and college track career by awarding him an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship, one of only ten going to Division III spring male athletes across the entire USA.

The NCAA Scholarship was the eighth of its kind won by Haverford athletes in the past seven years.

Haverford men's lacrosse co-captain Mike Fischette '04, of Pittsburgh, Pa., was named an alternate for the NCAA Scholarship as well.

Sargrad, who will teach at the Queen Anne School in Maryland next year, will likely use the NCAA Scholarship for graduate study in mathematics. A tutor and teaching assistant for the Haverford math department, Scott conducted research in Algebraic and Differential Topology, and wrote his senior thesis on "The Existence of Energy-Minimizing Knots and Links." He also chaired HC's Street Outreach food distribution program to Philadelphia homeless, and was founder and co-president of Haverford's chapter of GoodSchools Pennsylvania.

He is the son of Lee and Karin Sargrad of Glenside.

Fischette, a Centennial Conference men's lacrosse Honorable Mention in 2004, co-captained one of the most successful Haverford lacrosse teams in years. An attackman, Mike tied the Haverford record for most game-winning goals in a college career. The Honors English major is a graduate of Sewickley Academy and is the son of Joseph and Rosemary Fischette of Pittsburgh.

Haverford College athletes have been winning NCAA Scholarships since 1966 when Hunter Rawlings '66, later to become President of the Universities of Iowa and Cornel and a basketball and baseball star, was the first HC Scholarship awardee. Other Haverford winners before 1997 included Dick Voith '77, the College's all-time basketball scoring leader, now a prominent economist in Philadelphia, and Carol Compton '84 (field hockey and lacrosse), one of the College's first top women athletes after it became co-educational.

Sargrad's NCAA Scholarship award also gave long-time Haverford men's cross-country and track & field coach Tom Donnelly his sixth protege to win the NCAA's highest scholar-athlete recognition.