Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Owens selected for prestigious Casteñeda Scholarship
6/11/2020 11:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee men's golfer Tanner Owens was recognized Thursday as one of 14 recipients of the Jim Casteñeda Postgraduate Scholarship Award, as announced by the Conference USA office.
Owens, who will be a fifth-year senior on Head Coach Mark McEntire's squad in the 2020-21 men's golf season, will now be the program's top returner for the second year running after posting a stellar 71.8 stroke average in 2019-20. He is just the fourth Blue Raider ever to post an under par scoring average over the course of a single season.
"It's a huge honor to be awarded the Jim Casteñeda scholarship to help me continue my schooling at the graduate level," Owens said. "This scholarship will help me financially and give me the ability to become another step closer to achieving my goals not only in school but also with golf as well."
The Milton, Tenn., native has led Middle Tennessee in rounds of par or better in each of the last two seasons and has now notched 14 rounds of par or better in his last 19 rounds played. He has collected four Top 5 finishes, 5 Top 10 finishes and 11 Top 20 finishes in the last two years.
While finishing out his Blue Raider golf career, the healthcare administration major who boasted a 3.9 GPA as an undergraduate will begin pursuing his master's degree in strategic leadership at Middle Tennessee.
"It's a tremendous honor to have Tanner selected for this postgraduate scholarship," Head Coach Mark McEntire said. "He does an excellent job representing MTSU as a student-athlete. I am very excited to have him back in our program for another year, and am glad he will also be able to work towards his graduate degree while helping us compete for another conference championship."
This is the 12th year the award has been named for Dr. Castañeda, who served Rice University for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed away in November 2008. The conference annually awards the $4,000 postgraduate scholarships to graduates as selected by the C-USA Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors.
"I am very excited to have another year at Middle Tennessee and I will make sure I continue to work hard on the course and in the classroom to represent this scholarship, our program, and MTSU with class," Owens added.
2020 Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients
Carson Pace, Charlotte Softball
Sigourney Kame, Florida Atlantic Volleyball
Alexa Bryant, FIU Women's Swimming
Ethan Reed, Louisiana Tech Football
D'Andre Knight, Marshall Baseball
Tanner Owens, Middle Tennessee Men's Golf
Logan Bruffett, North Texas Women's Soccer
Anna Davis, Old Dominion Lacrosse
Adolfo Carvalho, Rice Men's Track & Field/CC
Alexander Nelms, Southern Miss Baseball
Natalia Presedo, UAB Women's Soccer
Briana Arellano, UTEP Volleyball
Jordyn Lacy, UTSA Women's Soccer
Emma Kowalkowski, WKU Volleyball
Middle Tennessee Recipients by Year
2014 – Laken Leonard, Women's Basketball
2015 – Leighton Gasque, Football
2016 – Nayara Moraes, Women's Tennis
2017 – Max Linder, Football
2018 – Jenna Burris, Women's Golf
2019 – Scheldon Paulk, Baseball
2020 – Tanner Owens, Men's Golf
Owens, who will be a fifth-year senior on Head Coach Mark McEntire's squad in the 2020-21 men's golf season, will now be the program's top returner for the second year running after posting a stellar 71.8 stroke average in 2019-20. He is just the fourth Blue Raider ever to post an under par scoring average over the course of a single season.
"It's a huge honor to be awarded the Jim Casteñeda scholarship to help me continue my schooling at the graduate level," Owens said. "This scholarship will help me financially and give me the ability to become another step closer to achieving my goals not only in school but also with golf as well."
The Milton, Tenn., native has led Middle Tennessee in rounds of par or better in each of the last two seasons and has now notched 14 rounds of par or better in his last 19 rounds played. He has collected four Top 5 finishes, 5 Top 10 finishes and 11 Top 20 finishes in the last two years.
While finishing out his Blue Raider golf career, the healthcare administration major who boasted a 3.9 GPA as an undergraduate will begin pursuing his master's degree in strategic leadership at Middle Tennessee.
"It's a tremendous honor to have Tanner selected for this postgraduate scholarship," Head Coach Mark McEntire said. "He does an excellent job representing MTSU as a student-athlete. I am very excited to have him back in our program for another year, and am glad he will also be able to work towards his graduate degree while helping us compete for another conference championship."
This is the 12th year the award has been named for Dr. Castañeda, who served Rice University for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed away in November 2008. The conference annually awards the $4,000 postgraduate scholarships to graduates as selected by the C-USA Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors.
"I am very excited to have another year at Middle Tennessee and I will make sure I continue to work hard on the course and in the classroom to represent this scholarship, our program, and MTSU with class," Owens added.
2020 Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients
Carson Pace, Charlotte Softball
Sigourney Kame, Florida Atlantic Volleyball
Alexa Bryant, FIU Women's Swimming
Ethan Reed, Louisiana Tech Football
D'Andre Knight, Marshall Baseball
Tanner Owens, Middle Tennessee Men's Golf
Logan Bruffett, North Texas Women's Soccer
Anna Davis, Old Dominion Lacrosse
Adolfo Carvalho, Rice Men's Track & Field/CC
Alexander Nelms, Southern Miss Baseball
Natalia Presedo, UAB Women's Soccer
Briana Arellano, UTEP Volleyball
Jordyn Lacy, UTSA Women's Soccer
Emma Kowalkowski, WKU Volleyball
Middle Tennessee Recipients by Year
2014 – Laken Leonard, Women's Basketball
2015 – Leighton Gasque, Football
2016 – Nayara Moraes, Women's Tennis
2017 – Max Linder, Football
2018 – Jenna Burris, Women's Golf
2019 – Scheldon Paulk, Baseball
2020 – Tanner Owens, Men's Golf
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Golf
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