MTU's Kautzer and WSU's Ahmed Named 2019-20 GLIAC Pat Riepma Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients

Posted: Apr 20, 2020

GLIAC – Michigan Tech cross country runner Amanda Kautzer and Wayne State swimmer Ahmed Ahmed have been named the recipients of the 2019-20 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Pat Riepma Postgraduate Scholarship. The honor, which awards each recipient, one male and one female, $5,000 in aid to the graduate school of their choice, was voted on by the Faculty Athletic Representatives (FARs) of the GLIAC member institutions.

Michigan Tech cross country runner Amanda Kautzer raced at the 2019 NCAA Championship and received USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. She was a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence team member and received the team’s 2018 Scholastic Achievement Award. She competed in five races in 2019, leading the Huskies at the Blugold Invite and placing one spot outside of an All-GLIAC finish at the conference championship.

As a Nordic skier for the Huskies, Kautzer was a three-time qualifier at the NCAA Championships. She received the NCAA’s Elite 90 award in 2020, having the best grade-point average of anyone at the Championships with her 4.0 in biomedical engineering. In 2019 she was a Google Cloud Division II Academic All-American and has been on the USCSCA All-Academic Team three times. Kautzer was a Central Regional Champion in 2019 in the classic and placed 17th at the 2019 NCAA Championship in the classic. She is a three-time All-CCSA selection and three-time All-Central Region finisher.

Kautzer was a captain on both teams and is only the third Michigan Tech female student-athlete to compete at the NCAA Championships in both cross country and Nordic skiing.

Wayne State's Ahmed Ahmed, a Mechanical Engineering major from Alexandria, Egypt, is the first WSU student-athlete awarded the Pat Riepma Post-Graduate Scholarship since tennis student-athlete Michael FitzGerald during the 2013-14 academic year.

Not only did Ahmed excel in the classroom, where he earned Academic Honor Roll accolades all nine semesters, including four terms with at least a 3.5 grade-point average, the fifth-year senior swimmer also won seven individual GLIAC titles in his career.

As a rookie in 2015-16, Ahmed was voted GLIAC Freshman of the Year after winning the 200 Free, 500 Free, 1000 Free and 1650 Free. After taking a medical redshirt in 2017-18, Ahmed won the 500 Free for the third time in 2019, while placing second in the 200 Free and third in the 200 Breast.

At the 2020 GLIAC Championships, Ahmed won the 200 Free, placed second in the 500 Free and 400 Medley Relay, while finishing third in both the 1000 Free and 800 Free Relay.

He was an 18-time All-GLIAC performer (top three in an event), and a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence honoree.

Ahmed becomes the fourth Warrior honoree joining baseball catcher Michael Wiseman (2010-11) and golfer Lance Chamberlain (2006-07), along with the aforementioned Michael FitzGerald.

The GLIAC Postgraduate Scholarship is named after former Northwood University Athletic Director and head football coach Pat Riepma who passed away in July of 2015 after a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer. Pat spent over 21 years at Northwood and was the all-time winningest coach in football history as well as the long time Athletic Director. While his achievements on the field and on behalf of the athletic department are impressive, Pat will be forever remembered for the person he was. Pat was a passionate, spiritual man who inspired thousands of people even before he became sick. While Pat is gone, his mantra of “Go MAD”- Go Make a Difference, will live on.

Click here for previous GLIAC Postgraduate Awards recipients