UT Track Alum Wins Elite NCAA Scholarship

By Jordan Schraeder in Special, Sports on July 20, 2012 at 3:50 pm | No Comments

When it comes to UT athletes, we’re used to hearing more about stats and victories than academic achievements. But scholar-athletes like recent grad Julie Amthor, BS ’12, remind us that our Longhorns excel both on and off the field.

A former member of the women’s track and field team, Amthor is one of just 29 female student-athletes to receive the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. The one-time $7,500 grant is given to 29 men and 29 women who are in their final year of athletic eligibility, and who demonstrate a strong commitment to both athletics and academics.

Amthor, who holds the Longhorn record in the distance medley relay with three teammates, graduated with an impressive 3.972 GPA—the highest of the track team—and will enter medical school at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston this fall.

“Over her four years at Texas, Julie made an A in every class except one,” says Randa Ryan, senior associate athletics director. “The one B+ haunted her for a while, but in typical Julie style she used it as motivation to not happen again!”

In addition to track, Amthor was also heavily involved in research while at UT, working in a chemistry lab and studying drug design. She was also an active member of UT’s Hispanic Health Professions Organization.

“She dedicated herself to academic excellence from the moment she stepped on campus,” Ryan says.

Only 26 UT athletes have received the scholarship since its creation in 1974. Amthor is the second UT women’s track and field athlete to get it; Erin Simms won the award back in 2003.

“We are so excited for Julie,” said women’s track and field head coach Bev Kearney in a press release.  “She has so many opportunities in front of her.  It’s wonderful for this to have happened to such an exceptional student and person.”

 Julie Amthor. Photo courtesy UT Athletics.

Tags: Bev Kearney, Julie Amthor, NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, UT track and field