BATON ROUGE — Three LSU athletes who completed their college athletic careers this past year were among the 107 student-athletes who were awarded postgraduate scholarships by the NCAA.
The three — tennis player Tom Hand, golfer Lisette Lee and gymnast Stacey Wegener — were among those awarded a $5,000 scholarship. The student-athletes were honored in all sports with the exception of football and basketball which the NCAA conducts championships. The scholarships are awarded to those who maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average and perform with distinction in varsity competition.
A total of 67 football and basketball scholarships were announced earlier in the year.
Hand, who last week won the Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award, is a Mass Communications/Public Relations major and posted a career record of 107-43 in his LSU career, the third most singles wins in LSU history. The Plymouth, England, native helped his team advance to the NCAA tennis Final Four in both 1998 and 1999 and finished his final season ranked 13th in the nation in singles. Hand was named the GTE Academic All-American of the Year in 1999 after graduating in just three years with a 4.0 grade point average.
Hand was chosen the 1998 Tiger Athletic Foundation Scholar Athlete of the Year and he plans to pursue a master’s degree in Mass Communications at LSU.
Lee, from Kenner, who has already been honored after her senior season with the Boyd McWhorter Southeastern Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and the Diana Shore Award from the Ladies Professional Golfers Association, led the Lady Tigers to a third consecutive Top 10 finish in the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships.
The Finance major was named a GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American and earned honorable mention All-American honors, averaging 75.76 strokes per round. Her post-graduate plans include pursuing a master’s degree in business administration.
Wegener, from Marrero, La., is a Kinesiology major and an NCAA All-American on the balance beam. She was the Dee Dee Fulmer-Gilbert Coaches Award and was a three-time winner of the Director’s Cup. She also was a first-team GTE Academic All-District VI selection.
She ended her career as a two-time All-American and plans to study physical therapy in graduate school. Wegener, a two-year team captain, helped the Tigers to a second place finish in this past year’s SEC Championship.