MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University rifle graduates Maren Prediger and Thomas Kyanko were awarded NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships.

 

The duos’ awards punctuate successful Mountaineer careers that saw the student-athletes win three straight NCAA Championships with the squad, as well as multiple individual honors and awards, including 2015 Capital One Academic All-America At-Large Second Team recognitions.

 

Prediger, a native of Petersaurach, Germany, won the 2015 NCAA air rifle title. She earned three straight National Rifle Association (NRA) First Team All-America Air Rifle awards and back-to-back College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) CRCA All-America Second Team honors. Additionally, she finished second in air rifle and fourth in smallbore at the 2015 Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) Championships and collected six All-GARC honors throughout her career.

 

Prediger earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry with a 3.92 grade point average (GPA) and is currently pursuing a doctorate in chemistry. One of 45 students to earn the WVU Outstanding Senior honor, she is a three-time CRCA All-Academic Team and Academic All-Big 12 At-Large Team honoree. Prediger also is a member of the President’s and Dean’s Lists, as well as the WVU Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll.

 

Kyanko, a native of Wellsburg, West Virginia, is a five-time NRA All-American and earned his first career first-team award this season, as he was named to the smallbore first team and the air rifle second team. An eight-time All-GARC honoree, he finished second on the team this season with a 582 smallbore average.

 

Pursuing a master’s degree in computer science, Kyanko earned his undergraduate degree in computer science last year with a 3.90 GPA. He is the second rifle student-athlete to earn three Academic All-America honors, having been named to the third team in 2013 and the second team in 2014. A four-time CRCA All-Academic Team honoree and a three-time Academic All-Big 12 At-Large Team member, Kyanko has been named to the President’s and Dean’s Lists, as well as the WVU Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll.

 

The NCAA awards up to 174 one-time, none-renewable postgraduate scholarships annually, three times a year corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter and spring). The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are at least in their final year of intercollegiate athletic competition. There are 29 scholarships available for men and 29 scholarships available for women each sports season.