Standout senior men's cross country runner John Tumbleston has received two scholarships to fund his future studies toward a doctorate in physics. Read this note for details...
The Southern Conference announced that Tumbleston (Boone, N.C./Watauga) will be awarded its 2006 Dave Hart postgraduate scholarship.
Part of the TIAA-CREF Academic Awards Program, the $2,500 scholarship is named after former Southern Conference commissioner Dave Hart. Tumbleston will be recognized at the annual Southern Conference Honors Dinner on May 31 in Hilton Head, S.C.
Tumbleston has also been selected as one of 29 male student-athletes who participate in fall sports to receive one of the NCAA’s $7,500 postgraduate scholarships. Last summer, Tumbleston was named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America University Division Men’s Track and Field/Cross Country First Team. He is a two-time First Team Academic All-District III selection.
A four-year letterman and two-year team captain, Tumbleston holds five of Elon’s all-time top-10 cross country times, including one tied for the school record. He has competed in the conference championship meet and the NCAA Regionals all four years and was named the Southern Conference Runner of the Week as well as the TIAA-CREF SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week once each during the 2005 season.
Tumbleston has competed in 29 of Elon’s 30 races during the past four years, scoring in 28 of those meets while emerging as the top Phoenix finisher on 14 occasions. He earned his team’s Massey Family Sportsmanship Award in 2003, was honored as his squad’s most valuable performer in 2004 and ran his way to Southeastern Collegiate Invitational champion status in 2005. He has represented his team on the Elon Student-Athlete Advisory Council the past three years.
Tumbleston has earned a 4.00 cumulative grade-point average during his four-year career as a double major in physics and science education at Elon. The three-time TIAA-CREF Academic All-Southern Conference team member has also been inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Delta (International Studies), Pi Gamma Mu (Social Sciences), Chi Alpha Sigma (Athletics) and Phi Eta Sigma national honor societies.
A seven-time President’s List and seven-time Athletics Director’s Honor Roll student at Elon, Tumbleston was honored as the 2004-05 A.L. Hook Scholar-Athlete of the Year at Elon’s annual athletics banquet last May. He has been a North Carolina Teaching Fellow and an Elon University Honors Fellow while also serving as a physics teaching and research assistant. He plans on attending graduate school in the fall of 2006, pursuing his master’s degree and Ph.D. in physics on his way to becoming a university professor.