Wednesday, April 20, 2016

UNCW's student-athletes continue to excel at a high rate academically, according to the 13^th round of Academic Progress Rates (APR) released Wednesday by the NCAA.

The report comes one week after UNCW's baseball, women's tennis, men's soccer, men's golf and volleyball teams earned Public Recognition Awards for placing among the top 10 percent nationally in the classroom in their sports. It was the largest number for the Seahawks since the program originated in 2004-05.

"The latest APR scores validate that our student-athletes are doing an exemplary job in the classroom," said Jimmy Bass, UNCW's sixth-year athletic director. "All of our student-athletes have a strong academic focus and know they are preparing for life after college. We're very pleased with their efforts in the classroom."

Every NCAA Division I team calculates its APR based on the eligibility, graduation and retention of each scholarship student-athlete. Teams scoring below certain thresholds can face consequences, such as practice restrictions and restrictions on postseason competition. Rates are based on the past four years' performance and the most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on the scores from the 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years.

In the NCAA's high-profile sports, the average four-year APR for men's basketball is 964, up three points from last year, and women's basketball increased by three points to 978.

Twelve of UNCW's 17 teams in the report achieved a perfect APR score of 1,000 for 2014-15 – eight more than one year ago. Teams that reached perfection included men's cross country, men's golf, men's soccer, men's tennis, women's basketball, women's cross country, women's golf, softball, women's soccer, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis and women's volleyball.

Read the full story on the UNCW Athletics page.