INDIANAPOLIS—A total of nine teams from seven WAC schools have been honored by the NCAA for scoring in the
top 10 percent in each sport with their APRs.
Those teams and sports include: Boise State (Men's Basketball, Men's Cross Country); Hawaii (Women's Volleyball); Idaho (Women's Golf); Nevada (Mixed Rifle); New Mexico State (Men's Golf); San Jose State (Women's Gymnastics, Women's Tennis); and Utah State (Women's Cross Country).
In the case of San Jose State women's gymnastics and women's tennis teams had a perfect multi-year score of 1,000.
"We congratulate the student-athletes and their coaches who have earned these national awards for their programs and Spartan athletics. From day one, a San Jose State University student-athlete's first priority is to perform academically and dedicate themselves to the goal and ultimate commitment to graduate from this university," says SJSU director of athletics Tom Bowen.
Of the conferences in the West, the WAC had the highest percentage of schools with at least one Public Recognition Award: WAC (7 of 9, .778); Pac-10 (7 of 10, .700); Mountain West (6 of 9, .667); Big West (5 of 9, .556); Big Sky (5 of 9, .556); West Coast (4 of 8, .500).
More
than 800 Division I sports teams are being recognized this year for their
exceptional work in the classroom as part of the NCAA’s academic performance
program.
Based on their most recent
multi-year Academic Progress Rates, 841 teams have earned NCAA Public
Recognition Awards.
Full APR scores for all
Division I sports teams, including penalties for low-performing teams, will be
released later this spring.
High-performing teams receiving
public recognition awards this year posted APR scores ranging from 978 to a
perfect 1,000, said NCAA Interim President Jim Isch. The
number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent depending on how many
achieved perfect scores.
As APR scores improve, the
threshold for teams to earn a place in the top 10 percent in their sport continues
to rise.
“Most Division I
student-athletes and teams take seriously their dual responsibilities in the
classroom and on the court or field of play, but every year there is a special
category of teams that perform exceptionally well and deserve this noteworthy
recognition,” Isch said.
Two national champions are
included in this year’s list of award winners: the 2009 Division I Football
Championship winner (Villanova University) and the 2009 Women’s Bowling
Champion (Fairleigh Dickinson University, Metropolitan Campus).
The APR provides a real-time
view of a team’s academic success by tracking the progress of each
student-athlete during the school year. By measuring eligibility and retention
each semester or quarter, the APR provides a clear picture of the academic
culture in each sport.
An APR score of 925 is the
minimum level of academic success; teams scoring below 925 can lose
scholarships and face other sanctions over time, including bans on postseason
play.
The 841 teams publicly
recognized this year for high achievement represent 13.4 percent of the 6,297
eligible Division I teams. The list includes 492 women’s teams and 349 men’s or
mixed squads.
A total of 228 institutions,
out of 331 Division I colleges and universities, placed at least one team on
the top APR list. Another six schools that offer athletics in more than one
division, out of 50 overall within the NCAA, placed Division I teams on the
list as well.
For the fourth consecutive
year, Yale University had the most teams (24) recognized, followed by Dartmouth
College (22) and the University of Pennsylvania (20). By conference, the Ivy
Group had the most number of teams honored (135), followed by the Patriot
League (90) and the Big East Conference (70).
Last
year, a total of 767 teams were recognized.
In the five years of the NCAA’s academic reform program,
1,747 different teams have received Public Recognition Awards, representing
27.7 percent of eligible sports teams during that time. Of that total,
319 teams have received Public Recognition Awards each of the five years of the
program.
The most recent APRs are
multi-year rates based on scores from the 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09
academic years.
The public recognition awards by sport and institution can be
found above in the Related Links section.