July 24, 2000

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Former Virginia Tech softball player Michelle Meadows has been honored once again for her work in the classroom. The Richmond, Va., native was awarded a postgraduate scholarship by the NCAA. The scholarship is one of 71 given to female athletes in Olympic sports from all NCAA divisions. It is a one-time grant of $5,000 that must be used within five years of graduation.

This award is just another in the growing list for Meadows, who completed her eligibility at Tech in May. She was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year in softball as well as an all-conference selection. She was named the A-10 Student-Athlete of the Year for softball and was named a first-team Academic All-American for the second consecutive year. She became the first athlete ever at Virginia Tech to make the first team All-America team twice. Katie Ollendick made the first team in 1997.

Meadows has a 3.9339 GPA in the science of human nutrition, foods and exercise with a minor in biology and chemistry. Meadows will return to Blacksburg in the fall for her final year of classes before applying for medical school.

This past season, Meadows started all 63 games for the Hokies and was the team's leading hitter. She batted .324 with 35 RBI, 11 doubles, two triples and four home runs. She committed just three errors all season at second base and had a slugging percentage of .468. The 2000 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year is Tech's all-time leader in hits and RBI.

The requirements for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program are as follows: the student-athlete must be in her final season of eligibility as an athlete the student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above and the student-athlete must be pursuing a postgraduate degree within five years of graduation.