Bowling Green State University Athletics
Three BGSU Teams Listed as NCAA Honors High Academic Achievement
April 24, 2008 | Volleyball
April 24, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The NCAA is honoring more than 700 Division I sports teams with public recognition awards for their latest Academic Progress Rate scores, and Bowling Green State University is one of just three Mid-American Conference institutions to have three or more teams on the list.
These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.
The BGSU women's golf, tennis and volleyball squads all finished in the top-10 percent on their respective lists. The women's golf team is coached by Stephanie Young, the tennis squad by Penny Dean and the volleyball Falcons by Denise Van De Walle.
The NCAA honored a total of 712 Division I sports teams. The teams recognized this year represent 11.4 percent of the 6,272 Division I teams. The list includes 401 women's teams and 311 men's or mixed squads. A total of 192 Division I institutions had at least one team on the top APR list.
High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 965 to a perfect 1,000 over the data collection period.
"Congratulations to these teams and their student-athletes for success in the classroom," NCAA President Myles Brand said. "They are setting a great example for their peers and future student-athletes, as well."
The effort is part of a public-recognition program the Division I Board of Directors approved in January 2006. Last year, a total of 839 teams were recognized.
For the second consecutive year, Yale University had the most teams (28) recognized. By conference, the Ivy Group had by far the most number of teams honored (150), followed by the Patriot League (89) and the Big East Conference (47).
Among the 12 Mid-American Conference institutions, only Miami and Western Michigan matched BGSU's total of three programs on the list.
By sport, women's tennis featured the most teams (46), followed by women's volleyball (41) and women's golf (39). The men's sport with the highest number of teams were basketball and cross country (both with 33) and golf (32). This is the first year that basketball led men's sports.
Last year, a total of 839 teams were recognized. There are fewer awards this year than last year because there are fewer teams with perfect scores. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent depending on how many achieved perfect 1,000 APR scores. In some sports, teams had to maintain a perfect score over the four-year period in order to be recognized.
Multi-year APR scores for all 6,272 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced May 6. The announcement also will include immediate and historically based penalties for low-performing teams.
The NCAA's official release, with a link to the entire list of teams honored, CAN BE FOUND HERE.
