BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Three WKU programs earned the 2025-26 Conference USA Sport Academic Award, the league announced Friday. WKU's Football, Men's Basketball and Women's Tennis programs each received the Sport Academic Award, which is given to the team in each conference-sponsored sport with the highest GPA for the academic year.
It is the second straight year Football and Women's Tennis have received the CUSA Sport Academic Award.
Women's Tennis posted a 3.78 GPA during the 2025-26 academic year – the highest GPA of the WKU programs recognized. All eight players on the roster were named to the CUSA Commissioner's Honor Roll, and an additional six received CUSA Commissioner's Academic Medal recognition. Additionally, senior Elizabeth Sobieski was recognized as the 2025-26 CUSA Women's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Thursday. WKU Women's Tennis finished the 2026 season with 11 wins, and the Lady Toppers have now won at least 10 matches in each of the last five seasons. It is the second time the program has accomplished the feat, also doing so between the 2009-13 seasons. The Lady Toppers have won 73 matches over the last five seasons, which is the highest win total over a five-year period in program history.
The Hilltopper Basketball team recorded a 3.27 GPA during the 2025-26 academic year to earn the CUSA Sport Academic Award. The team had 14 players from the 2025-26 roster recognized on CUSA's most recent Commissioner's Honor Roll list, which recognizes student-athletes with a GPA of at least 3.0. The program ended the 2025-26 academic year with a cumulative GPA of 3.21. The Hilltoppers finished the 2025-26 season with an 18-14 record, including a 12-4 mark playing at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Football posted a 3.26 team GPA during the 2025-26 academic year to earn its second straight CUSA Sport Academic Award. There were 75 Hilltopper Football players with a cumulative GPA over 3.0 at the close of the 2025-26 academic year, and the team held a cumulative GPA of 3.22 at that point. WKU finished the 2025 season with a 9-4 record and claimed the 2025 New Orleans Bowl championship with a 27-16 win over Southern Miss – the fifth bowl win for the Hilltoppers in seven seasons under Head Coach Tyson Helton and eighth for the program during the College Football Playoff Era. Only Georgia and Minnesota have more bowl wins than WKU during the CFP Era, and WKU's eight bowl wins are tied for third-most nationally with Alabama, Ohio State and Wisconsin during that period.
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