SIUE Athletics Programs Honored by NCAA

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Five SIUE Athletics programs were honored by the NCAA Wednesday by earning multi-year Academic Progress Rates (APR) in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.

SIUE baseball, men's cross country, men's golf, women's golf and women's tennis were listed among the nation's best for their high marks academically.

"I'm very proud of our student-athletes, our coaches and especially the academic support staff for their engagement with the student-athletes and the end result in academic performance," said SIUE Director of Athletics Dr. Brad Hewitt. "One of our primary objectives is to graduate our student-athletes as well as to serve and educate them well during their time here."

The APR is an annual scorecard of academic achievement calculated for all Division I sports teams nationally. This year's honorees include four years of APR calculations (school years of 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15). The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester or quarter by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.

Among Illinois state institutions, SIUE and the University of Illinois topped the list with five teams honored. Other state institutions earning APR Public Recognition Awards were Eastern Illinois (4), Northern Illinois (3), Illinois State (1), UIC (1) and Western Illinois (1).

There were 1,071 NCAA Division I teams publicly recognized, including 649 women's teams and 422 men's or mixed squads. The scores required to be in the top 10 ranged from 983 to a perfect 1,000, depending on the sport. There were 944 teams earning a perfect 1,000 APR score.

SIUE also was one of nine OVC schools to have at least one sport earn a public recognition award. There were 26 OVC teams honored overall. Belmont led all OVC schools with six followed by SIUE (5), Eastern Illinois (4), Austin Peay (3), Morehead State (2), Southeast Missouri (2), Eastern Kentucky (2), Jacksonville State (1) and Murray State (1).

"We will remain in pursuit of excellence both on the field and in the classroom," added Hewitt.