Development Foundation awards four scholarships

Martha Buckley won the John Stenner Memorial Scholarships

Colorado Springs, Colo. (December 31, 2010) -- The USA Cycling Development Foundation has recognized four student-athletes as recipients of the annual John Stenner and Joshua Kuck Memorial Scholarships.

The winners of the John Stenner Memorial Scholarships are Martha Buckley (Cambridge, MA) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Nitish Nag (Union City, CA) of the University of California at Berkeley. The winners of the Joshua Kuck Memorial Scholarship are Blake Anton (San Luis Obispo, Calif) of Cal Poly and Devon Simpson (Kirkland, Wash.) of the University of Washington.

The John Stenner Memorial Scholarships are based on academic achievements, athletic accomplishments and service to the community with an emphasis on collegiate team involvement and leadership. Stenner scholarships are funded by donations to the USA Cycling Development Foundation in the name of John Stenner, one of the founders of collegiate cycling.

Nitish Nag of the University of California at Berkeley

The Joshua Kuck Memorial Scholarships are based on outstanding achievements in the areas of cycling safety, advocacy and education. The program is funded through the USA Cycling Development Foundation by directed donations from the friends and family of Joshua Kuck, a University of South Florida collegiate cyclist who was killed on his bike in 2007.

Female winner of the Stenner scholarship, Martha Buckley is a 28 year-old graduate student at MIT with an undergraduate degree in Math and Physics. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. with a focus on Oceanography and Climate. Buckley has maintained an almost perfect GPA while attending seven Collegiate National Championships in her tenure with MIT Cycling, and has held a number of leadership positions on the team. She currently serves as Team Captain. She has a long list of academic and athletic achievements, including being named MIT’s Female Scholar Athlete of the year in 2004, and winning the ECCC road race series individual omnium and the sprinter’s jerseys in 2010.

Devon Simpson of the University of Washington

As a senior at Cal Berkeley, Nitish Nag was the male recipient of the Stenner scholarship. Nag currently holds a 3.8 GPA as he pursues a triple major in Biochemistry, Integrative Biology and Nutritional Metabolism. He scored five first-place finishes while racing at the highest level in the West Coast Conference’s 2010 mountain bike season, as well as a fourth-place finish in the Individual Omnium at USA Cycling’s 2010 Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships. Nag won the Freshman of the Year award from his Bear Cycling peers in 2007, and has won the Most Valuable Cyclist award from the team for three years in a row. Nag has served in many roles as a team leader for Cal during the last four years, including Head Coach, Sponsorship Director, and Road and Mountain Bike Captain.

The men’s Joshua Kuck Scholarship recipient, Blake Anton has been teaching high school and middle school riders cycling safety and skills since he was a junior rider with the Davis Bike Club. Anton is now a senior at Cal Poly with a major in Architecture and a minor in Sustainable Environments and Design. He has been a member of the Cal Poly Wheelmen since his freshman year, and recently won the road race at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships. Anton also serves on the Collegiate Cycling Board of Trustees for USA Cycling.

Blake Anton of Cal Poly

The winner of the female Kuck Scholarship is the youngest of the 2010 Collegiate Scholarship award recipients. Nineteen-year-old Devon Simpson, a sophomore at the University of Washington is studying Aeronautic and Astronautic Engineering, and is a natural at teaching cycling safety and skills to all ages. She is a well-rounded student-athlete who has volunteered for the Teach Kids to Ride program for the last five years through the Cascade Bicycle Club, and has also assisted with skills instruction for the Marymoor Velodrome Association. Last summer, Simpson ran the Pee Wee Pedalers program for the 5-8 year-olds. In addition to racing on the track, she also races on road and cyclo-cross bikes.

About the USA Cycling Development Foundation
Created in 2000 to support the future of American cycling, the USA Cycling Development Foundation (USACDF) raises money to drive American athlete development programs in cycling. As the non-profit fundraising arm of the national governing body, the USACDF receives no federal funding or subsidies and operates solely through private donations from individuals, corporations, and other foundations. The money raised by the Foundation funds programs for juniors, U23 and other future Olympic athletes in all disciplines of competitive cycling. For more information about the USA Cycling Development Foundation, visit www.usadf.org.

About USA Cycling Collegiate Cycling
Recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the Union Cycliste Internationale, USA Cycling is the official governing body for all disciplines of competitive cycling in the United States, including road, track, mountain bike, BMX, and cyclo-cross. With over 4,000 student athletes and 300 collegiate clubs and teams, Collegiate Cycling is the division of USA Cycling responsible for administering competitive bicycle racing in 10 unique collegiate conferences: Atlantic, Eastern, Southeast, Midwest, South Central, North Central, North West, South West, Western, and Rocky Mountain. Collegiate Cycling oversees all four USA Cycling Collegiate National Championships: Track, Mountain Bike, Cyclo-cross, and Road, and recognizes collegiate club and athlete achievements with the Stenner and Kuck scholarships as well as the Collegiate Performance Awards. To learn more about USA Cycling-Collegiate, visit www.usacycling.org/ncca.

This Article Published December 31, 2010 For more information contact: