ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth swimming All-American Emily Lesher has been awarded a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA.

Lesher is one of 58 student-athletes covering all three divisions who received the award as a participant in a winter sport. In addition to the winter sports honorees, the NCAA also awards 116 postgraduate scholarships to student-athletes participating in fall and spring sports for a total of 174 annual scholarships.

To qualify for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, a student-athlete must have an overall grade-point average of 3.20 and must have performed with distinction as a member of the team from which the student-athlete was nominated. The student-athlete must have behaved, both on and off the field, in a manner that has brought credit to the student-athlete, the institution and intercollegiate athletics. The student-athlete also must intend to continue academic work beyond the baccalaureate degree as a full- or part-time graduate student.

Lesher, of  Sherrill, N.Y. and a graduate of Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, has earned All-America honors nine times as a Nazareth swimmer and won the 2007 national championship in the 400 IM. She also has a 3.53 grade-point average as a Communication Sciences and Disorders major. She also has won an array of other honors, including the 2008 Robert A. Kidera Scholar-Athlete award, presented to a Nazareth senior who has excelled athletically and academically.

Lesher will receive her undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Nazareth May 10 and will use the NCAA scholarship to attend graduate school at Ithaca College.