June 20, 2018 Article from GOBLUERAIDERS.COM

Burris Awarded Prestigious Postgraduate Scholarship
 

photo of Jenna BurrisMURFREESBORO - Middle Tennessee women's golfer Jenna Burris was recognized Wednesday as one of 14 recipients of the Jim Casteñeda Postgraduate Scholarship Award, as announced by the Conference USA office.

Burris, who will be a redshirt senior on Head Coach Chris Adams' squad in the 2018-19 women's golf season, is a three-time All-Conference USA selection, three-time WGCA All-American Scholar, was the Conference USA individual champion as a sophomore in 2017 and helped the Blue Raiders to their second consecutive Conference USA Championship as a freshman in 2016.

"I am beyond grateful and humbled to receive this award from Conference USA," Burris said. "I know they had several high quality candidates to pick from throughout the conference and I am very excited about the opportunity they have provided for me."

The Manchester, Tenn., native stands in the Top 5 in program history in career stroke average (75.32) and rounds of par or better (23) with one season of eligibility remaining.

While finishing out her Blue Raider golf career, the business administration major and economics and finance minor who boasted a 3.79 GPA as an undergraduate will begin pursuing her master's degree in management at Middle Tennessee.

"The countless support that MTSU has given me over the last four years not only athletically but academically as well has been more than I could have ever asked for or expected," Burris added. "Excited is the word I will use but is an understatement for how I feel about starting my graduate program this summer while still getting a chance to play this final year of eligibility on the golf team.

"Being able to not only start but also get over halfway through with a Master's degree while still playing a sport is a rarity, and for that I am forever grateful. We have an immense amount of potential this year with the team Coach Adams has put together, and I have very high hopes for what we will accomplish during this school year."

This is the 10th year the award has been named for Dr. Castañeda, who served Rice University for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed away in November 2008. The conference annually awards the $4,000 postgraduate scholarships to graduates as selected by the C-USA Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors.

"It's a great honor to have Jenna selected for this postgraduate scholarship because she exemplifies both academically and athletically what it means to be a perfect student-athlete," Adams said. "We're very excited to see her be able to begin pursuing her graduate degree all while continuing to represent Blue Raider women's golf on the course during her final year of eligibility."

2018 Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients

Joshua Cook, Men's Tennis, Charlotte
Raven Doyle, Women's Basketball, Florida Atlantic
Rebecca Quesnel, Women's Swimming & Diving, FIU
Morgan Keesee, Women's Track & Field/Cross Country, Louisiana Tech
Anna Lynch, Women's Swimming & Diving, Marshall
Jenna Burris, Women's Golf, Middle Tennessee
Victoria Junious, Women's Track & Field/Cross Country, North Texas
Charles Hess, Men's Golf, Old Dominion
Scott Filip, Men's Track & Field/Cross Country, Rice
Kierstin Bradley, Women's Soccer, Southern Miss
Avei Logoleo, Beach Volleyball, UAB
Charles Corner, Men's Golf, UTEP
Benjamin Brookover, Baseball, UTSA
Sydney Engle, Volleyball, WKU

Middle Tennessee Recipients by Year

2014 – Laken Leonard, Women's Basketball
2015 – Leighton Gasque, Football
2016 – Nayara Moraes, Women's Tennis
2017 – Max Linder, Football
2018 – Jenna Burris, Women's Golf