Wooster’s Wagner Named NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Winner

NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program

Wes Wagner, a four-year starting goalkeeper for The College of Wooster's men's lacrosse team, was selected as one of 21 male spring sport student-athletes to be awarded a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, the NCAA announced on Wednesday.

Wagner is the first Fighting Scot men's lacrosse player to earn this prestigious scholarship. Coupled with men's tennis alumnus Titas Bera being reselected for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, Wooster now has 19 all-time recipients. They are the first Scots to be selected since the 2017-18 academic year, a year in which Wooster finished fifth nationally among all NCAA institutions (Div. I, II, & III) with three honorees.

"It is a tremendous honor to be nominated and selected to receive a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship," said Wagner. "I am both excited and humbled to be recognized for my efforts over the last four years. I am very proud to be a Fighting Scot, and I am grateful for everything I learned and accomplished at The College of Wooster. I want to acknowledge the awesome coaches, advisors, professors, friends, teammates, and family who supported me during my time at Wooster and made this honor possible."

"In his daily life, Wes exemplifies the four tenets of our program's culture – character, classroom, community, and competition," added head coach P.J. Kavanagh. "His effort, dedication, and commitment to excellence is unsurpassed. We are so happy for him."

Wagner, who earned the starting role on a full-time basis just three games into his collegiate career, made 55 career starts. He posted a 12.31 goals-against average and logged 624 saves, the second-most in program history. Wagner earned All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors in 2018 and ranked third in the conference with 216 saves as a junior. His best outing arguably came against archrival Wittenberg University in 2019, a game in which he logged a career-high 23 saves, and helped Wooster to an 8-7 victory, and with it, a berth in the NCAC Tournament.

A chemistry alumnus, Wagner graduated with a 3.8 GPA and was a three-time member of the NCAC Academic Honor Roll. At Wooster, Wagner investigated the products and reaction rates from heterogeneous oxidation reactions between branched hydrocarbons and hydroxyl radicals using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for his Independent Study. Wagner's research provided a better understanding of the reaction products, and he noted "continuation of this research can determine how the physical and chemical properties of the products could affect the environment and human health."

An avid researcher, Wagner spent last summer investigating proteins and biomarkers in human biological matrices for neuroscience therapeutic areas and developed novel separation techniques and quantitative methods for Tau proteins using mass spectrometry at AbbVie in Lake Bluff, Illinois, and he's currently performing metabolite identification research at Corteva Agriscience in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Wagner will use the $10,000 award towards a Ph.D. in chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.

"I am thrilled to start graduate school at WashU because of the rich history of excellence, outstanding reputation in the scientific community, and the notable research efforts in many areas I am very interested in pursuing," shared Wagner. "I will make the most of my opportunity at WashU by building a stronger foundation of science, developing research skills, and making an impact on future discoveries."

NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships are awarded annually to up to 126 student-athletes, who are selected by a committee that screens candidates whom maintain at least a 3.2 GPA, have performed and behaved with distinction on and off the playing field, and intend to continue their academic work beyond the baccalaureate degree.

Of note, Wooster was one of 26 institutions with multiple selections this year. Wooster's 19 recipients now span 12 of the College's 23 varsity athletic teams.