WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Swimmer Maxwell Blume and multi Jalen Elrod – Big Ten sportsmanship honorees and Academic All-Big Ten achievers – have been selected as Purdue Athletics’ recipients of the annual Big Ten postgraduate scholarships for the 2025-26 school year.
They will each receive a $7,500 scholarship for their continuing education. Blume plans to enroll in dental school in the summer of 2027. Elrod recently accepted a job at EōS Fitness as a Stretch and Recovery Trainer while she trains for the USATF Outdoor Championships in New York (July 23-26). After her pro career concludes, Elrod plans to attend medical school.
Elrod was Purdue Athletics’ female recipient of the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship award in the summer of 2025 after representing the women of Purdue Track & Field as their Big Ten sportsmanship honoree both indoor and outdoor during her final season. Blume served as one of the team’s tri-captains and was selected as Purdue Men’s Swimming & Diving’s Big Ten sportsmanship honoree this past school year.
Elrod compiled a 3.39 grade-point average at Purdue while earning her bachelor’s degree in biomedical health sciences. During 2026, Elrod was serving as a teaching assistant for “Dissecting Dementia,” where she worked at Westminster, a local hospital. Blume has a 3.29 GPA as a double major in health sciences pre-professional (pre-dental) and management. He’s in line to complete his undergraduate work in December.
A native of Houston, Texas, Elrod’s last season of competition came during the 2024-25 season when she competed in the pentathlon (indoor) and heptathlon (outdoor). She because the first Boilermaker to earn First Team All-American honors in the pentathlon and earned Second Team All-American honors in the heptathlon outdoors. She was the first heptathlon All-American for the Boilers since Angela Craft in 2001.
Elrod was the 2025 Big Ten silver medalist in the pentathlon and scored at Big Ten Championships in all four of her appearances. The transfer from Prairie View A&M competed for two seasons at Purdue and left the program owning five top 10 performances in school history, including the pentathlon record (4,233 points).
Blume finished strong as a senior this season, posting lifetime best marks in the 100- (52.35, 2nd) and 200-yard breaststroke (1:53.18), both times ranking top three in team history and the Boilermakers’ fastest marks this decade. He also raced on Purdue’s 400 medley relay team at the Big Ten Championships, helping that quartet post the third-fastest time in team history.
The Boilermakers enjoyed a vastly improved showing at Big Tens, racking up 186 more points at the conference championship than the year prior. Blume scored in the B finals of both breaststroke events.
Blume represented Purdue at USA Swimming’s summer championships showcase each of the last two years after training long course on campus all summer. He’s doing the same this summer and will be among the eight Boilermakers (four men, four women) racing for the United States at the FISU America Games in Peru at the end of July.
Since the Big Ten introduced the two postgraduate scholarships awarded to every institution at the end of the 2012-13 school year, swimmers have been frequently selected as the Boilermakers’ recipients. Fourteen of the 28 overall recipients have been swimmers and the aquatic center has produced at least one recipient in nine of the first 14 years.
Each Big Ten institution developed its own on-campus selection process when awarding the scholarships. Student-athletes must have maintained at least a 3.2 GPA, demonstrated leadership qualities, served as an excellent role model and intended to continue their academic work at a graduate degree program.
The scholarship will be used to pay expenses of the student's postgraduate education to include such related activities as research and teaching, as well as other expenses such as tuition, fees, room and board, required course-related supplies and books.
Around the Big Ten, 12 different sports were represented on this year’s list of the league's postgraduate scholarship recipients. A conference-high seven recipients were from track & field programs and five others were from swimming & diving programs.
BIG TEN POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
2026 – Maxwell Blume (Swimming), Jalen Elrod (Track & Field)
2025 – Kathryn Ackerman (Swimming), Luke Fortner (Swimming)
2024 – Michaela Herwig (Swimming), Evie Sierra (Swimming)
2023 – Blake Ratliff (Swimming), Emma Tate (Cross Country and Track & Field)
2022 – Jackson Smeltz (Baseball), Emma Terwilliger (Volleyball)
2021 – Léony Boudreau (Basketball), Gabi Gomez Treig (Swimming)
2020 – Susan Hubbard (Cross Country and Track & Field), Dylan Lydy (Wrestling)
2019 – Alex Clarke (Swimming), Ben Thornton (Wrestling)
2018 – Hanna House (Swimming), Chris Bals (Swimming)
2017 – Christa Szalach (Soccer), Jon McKeeman (Basketball)
2016 – Hayden Hamby (Basketball), Andrew Hoselton (Wrestling)
2015 – Carly Marshall (Swimming), Manuel Gutierrez (Swimming)
2014 – Cody Davis (Football), Kyle Mosier (Wrestling)
2013 – Lauren Gustafson (Swimming), Alec LaMothe (Swimming)
