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Women’s Cross Country Earns Team GPA Award
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 15, 2008 - A record-setting number of total awards were presented and Penn State student-athletes honored Monday night at the 21st Annual Academic Achievement Awards Banquet in the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Nittany Lion women's cross country team was presented with the team award for highest grade-point average during the 2006-07 academic year to highlight an outstanding year for Penn State student-athletes. The women's cross country team, coached by Beth Alford-Sullivan, has earned the highest team GPA four times since 1988, with the last time coming in 1992.
The event was held in conjunction with National Student-Athlete Day.
The members of Penn State’s 29 varsity programs combined to earn an overall 3.13 grade point average in 2006-07, a slight improvement from 2005-06.
Sponsored by the Milton and Lois Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes and the Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB), a record total of 333 awards were presented to 262 student-athletes for their academic accomplishments in 2005-06. All 262 honorees, also a record, earned a 3.00 grade point average or higher during the 2005-06 academic year.
The previous high for total awards was 322 in 2003-04 and the previous mark for the number of student-athletes honored was 237, also in 2003-04.
Presentations also were made to 78 seniors who had a 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA through the Spring 2007 semester. That total is second-highest to the 88 seniors that were honored from 2003-04.
The evening began with a special recognition of Milton and Lois Morgan for their long-time support of the Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes.
Former Penn State softball student-athlete Kari Lucas was the guest speaker. Lucas battled leukemia during her college career.
Nineteen teams earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better, an improvement of three from 2005-06. The performance of Penn State's 14 women's programs was particularly notable, earning a combined 3.22 GPA during 2004-05. There are approximately 800 Penn State student-athletes on 29 varsity teams.
The Nittany Lion Club presented its True Grit Award to two student-athletes for overcoming adversities during their careers. The recipients were senior wrestler Tim Haas (Camp Hill), and senior women’s tennis player Katelyn BeVard (McLean, Va.).
The Varsity "S" Award was presented for the seventh time. The honor goes to the women's and men's teams with the highest team GPA. This year's recipients were the women's cross country team and the men's tennis squad, coached by Todd Doebler.
The THON awards were presented to the student-athlete and team that raised the most donations for the Four Diamonds Fund and THON. The recipients were junior women’s soccer standout Zoe Bouchelle (Cockeysville, Md,) and the women's soccer team, coached by Erica Walsh.
The CHAMPS Cup Awards for community outreach were presented for the third time, with winners selected for squads with 20 or fewer squad members (women's basketball for the third consecutive year) and squads with more than 20 squad members (football-offense).
Penn State’s student-athletes, who have captured 12 Big Ten Championships during the past two-plus years and three NCAA titles in 2007, consistently have been among the nation’s most successful in earning their degrees. Among some of the recent academic accomplishments are:
- Eight Nittany Lion student-athletes were selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® team in 2006-07.
- Penn State student-athletes earned a record Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 88 percent compared to a 77 percent average for all Division I institutions, according to NCAA data released in October 2007. Twenty-two of Penn State’s 25 teams earned a GSR score above the national average (track and field and cross country are counted as one sport) and 21 teams had a GSR of 80 percent or better.
Ten Penn State squads earned a GSR of 100 percent.
- Among the 2000-01 entering freshman class, a record-tying 83 percent of Penn State student-athletes earned degrees within six years, compared to 63 percent for all Division I institutions, according to the NCAA.
- Penn State’s 82 percent four-year graduation rate is well above the national average of 62 percent for student-athletes. The four-year average was second highest in the Big Ten to Northwestern.
- African-American student-athletes at Penn State continue to consistently graduate at much higher percentages than at other Division I institutions. A record 90 percent of African-American student-athletes that entered Penn State in 2000-01 graduated, far surpassing all Big Ten institutions and the national average. Northwestern was second in the conference at 69 percent and the national Division I average was 53 percent.
- Penn State's four-year federal graduation rate for African-American student-athletes was 74 percent, marking the 17th consecutive year the Nittany Lions topped the Division I national average. At all Division I institutions in the NCAA compilation, the African-American four-year graduation percentile was 53 percent.
Of the Penn State student-athletes in the NCAA studies from 1991-92 through 2000-01 who exhausted their eligibility, 95 percent earned their diplomas.
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