Gunnarsson, Wise Named Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship Winners

SAN FRANCISCO — Former University of Colorado skiers Henrik Gunnarsson and Clare Wise, who helped lead CU to two national championships in their careers, have been named as recipients of the Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarships for the 2016-17 academic year, the Conference announced Thursday.

The scholarships, worth $9,000 each, are awarded to up to two student-athletes from each Pac-12 school annually. In total, the Conference awarded 22 outstanding student-athletes the postgraduate scholarship. These worthy student-athletes maintained a minimum 3.0 grade point average and demonstrated a commitment to education, campus and community involvement, and leadership.

To be selected for a Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship, a student-athlete must have:

• Maintained an overall undergraduate minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 (based on a 4.00 scale);
• Completed his/her final season of intercollegiate athletics eligibility in all sports or be in his/her final year of undergraduate study, having exhausted athletics eligibility in all sports;
• Been accepted to or already be enrolled as a full-time student in a graduate or professional program at an accredited institution, or in a postgraduate program for which an undergraduate degree is required for admission;
• Performed with distinction as a member of a varsity team; and
• Exemplified behavior, both in competition and beyond, in a manner that has brought credit to the student-athlete, the institution, and intercollegiate athletics.

"The recipients of this scholarship are excellent representatives of their universities and wonderful examples of the power of collegiate sports to help young people reach their goals," said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. "The Pac-12 is honored to help these standout student-athletes continue their educations, and I look forward to watching them positively impact their communities in the years to come."

Wise, an alpine skier for the Buffs from 2013-16 who was a four-time selection to the Division I National All-Academic Ski Team, graduated from CU in May of 2016 with a 3.87 cumulative GPA in chemical and biological engineering. She is enrolled in graduate school at Stanford University, studying medicine.

This is the second scholarship she has received from the Pac-12. Last December she was named one of two recipients of the 2016 Pac-12 Leadership Award, which granted her a $3,000 postgraduate scholarship. That award honors student-athletes who have not only been standout leaders on their campuses, within their athletic departments, and on their teams, but have also shown leadership on the Conference level in the areas of student-athlete welfare and student-athlete voice.

She was a member of Colorado's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for three years including serving as its president in 2015-16. Wise was also the chair of the inaugural Pac-12 SALT meetings in October of 2015 where she took on a historic role in advancing the student-athlete voice in the Pac-12 Conference. Those meetings marked the first time the Pac-12 officially recognized the student-athlete voice in its governance structure and Wise led the way in making important recommendations to the conference's athletics directors, senior woman administrators and faculty athletics representatives.

Gunnarsson also skied for the Buffalo alpine team from 2013-16 was selected to the Division I National All-Academic Ski Team three times, which is the high academic honor for skiers that is on par with being named an Academic All-American. He capped his skiing career in 2016 when he was awarded CU's Buddy Werner Memorial Scholarship and Outstanding Career Awards. He is currently enrolled at the Imperial College London where is he studying finance and accounting.

The Buddy Werner Award was named after the man synonymous with competitive skiing in America. He was the United States' first international skiing star who set a fine example and a scholarship commemorating him was established in 1983 for a deserving team member.

Gunnarsson ended his CU career in style as a senior, becoming one of the best skiers in the nation. He was the top seeded skier out of the RMISA for the NCAA Championships and the top-ranked skier on the slalom list for NCAA Qualification. He won two races, the first two of his career, both slalom, and finished the year with five podiums overall, four in slalom action. He was second at the 2016 NCAA Championships in the slalom race by just one-hundredth of a second.

A three-time All-American, including two first-team nods, Gunnarsson completed 50 of 55 career races and astonishingly finished in the top 20 in 49 of those 50 races. He compiled 22 top 10 results with 12 top five finishes, six podiums and two race wins.

In 1999, the Postgraduate Scholarship Program was created to both honor and financially assist some of the Conference's most outstanding athletes and scholars as they continue their educations and prepare for careers in their chosen industries. The Pac-12 annually awards up to 24 scholarships of $9,000 each to former and graduating student-athletes across the conference. Through its institutional selection process, each Pac-12 institution may select two student-athletes, one man and one woman, to be awarded the scholarship.

Colorado University Athletics

Gunnarsson, Wise Named Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship Winners

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