BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A record-high four Hilltopper and Lady Topper athletic teams were honored on Wednesday for their success in the classroom as volleyball, men's cross country, women's golf and women's tennis received NCAA Academic Performance Program Public Recognition Awards for having a multiyear Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores in the top 10 percent nationally through the 2016-17 academic year.
"I would like to congratulate the student-athletes and coaching staffs from these four sport programs for their effort and hard work in the classroom to earn this honor," Director of Athletics Todd Stewart said. "It is a testament to their determination to succeed on and off the field of play, and ranking in the top 10 percent of all programs in the nation is a terrific accomplishment."
It marks the 13th-straight year the Lady Topper volleyball program has ranked in the top 10 percent nationally, and WKU has now had multiple programs honored for four consecutive seasons for the first time since the program began. Out of 1,200 teams from 312 NCAA Division 1 schools to receive the award this season, WKU's volleyball program is one of only 85 to earn the award in each of the 13 years of the program. The Lady Toppers are also one of only two sport programs in Conference USA to have a 13-year streak, joined by Rice's women's cross country team.
The women's tennis program has now earned the award in four consecutive season's while women's golf earned their second consecutive award.
WKU is one of three Conference USA member institutions to have four sport programs honored with Public Recognition Awards, joining Rice and UTSA. As a whole, the league had 29 sport programs honored on Wednesday, up from 27 a season ago.
The APR provides a real-time look at a program's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.
The programs recognized Wednesday posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport. The full APR report will be released on May 23.
Over the past calendar year, 111 WKU student-athletes received their diploma from the University with 77 graduating in May 2016 and 11 over the summer session while 22 received their degrees this past December. The cumulative GPA of the 111 graduates was 3.19.
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