Denison’s Liam Picozzi Earns NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship

Courtesy: Denison Athletics

GRANVILLE, Ohio (August 2, 2022) – Liam Picozzi was awarded the prestigious Postgraduate Scholarship from the NCAA. 21 scholarships with a value of $10,000 were awarded to men’s winter sport athletes spanning all levels of the NCAA. Picozzi, who is pursuing medical school, becomes the 55th Denison student-athlete to receive the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.

A native of Ballston Spa, New York, Picozzi leaves Denison as a 23-time All-American, a 10-time North Coast Athletic Conference Champion, and a 17-time all-conference honoree.

Picozzi was a member of Denison’s national team in 2019, 2020 and 2022, As a team, Denison won the NCAA Division III National Championship during PIcozzi’s freshman campaign in 2019 before finishing third at nationals this year, and won the NCAC Championship in both 2019 and 2022 while finishing second in 2020.

At the 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships, Picozzi earned five top-8 finishes in the relays and had seven total All-American swims. At the 2022 NCAC Championship, Picozzi claimed five titles (100 back, 200 free relay, 400 free relay 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay) and earned seven-all-conference honors while swimming anchor in the final event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, and out-touching Kenyon to help Denison win its 13th conference championship in the last 14 seasons. In the end, Denison finished with 1,978.5 points to win the championship by only five points over Kenyon (1,973.5).

Picozzi is a Health, exercise, and sport studies (HESS) major with a 3.82 cumulative GPA. He was named to the NCAC Academic Honor Roll and was a Denison Top-50 Scholar-Athlete during each of the past three years. He was inducted into Denison’s inaugural Chi Alpha Sigma Class in 2020-21, is a four-time CSCAA Scholar All-American and a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American® (first-team ’22; second-team ’21), and at Denison’s 2021-22 James T. Glerum ’82 Top-50 Scholar-Athlete Honors Celebration, Picozzi was honored as a recipient of the NCAC Scholar-Athlete Award.

“Liam’s greatest asset was his consistency and self-discipline,” spoke Denison’s Head Swimming Coach Gregg Parini. “His relentless pursuit to be the best student-athlete possible every single day distinguishes him as one of the finest to ever go through our program.”

Created in 1964, The NCAA awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are at least in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The one-time non-renewable scholarships of $10,000 are awarded three times a year corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter, and spring).  Each sports season there are 21 scholarships available for men and 21 scholarships available for women for use in an accredited graduate program.

NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Winners from Denison