Clarksville, TN – If you’ve watched just about any NCAA Basketball regular-season or tournament game, or a few college football regular-season or bowl games over the past six or seven years you’ve probable the NCAA sponsored commercial spot that goes ‘over 400,000 student athletes and just about all of us will go pro in something other than sports’.
The Austin Peay State University Athletic Department has once again lived up to that NCAA standard with over 50 percent of its total number of student athletes recording at least a 3.0 grade-point average over this past fall semester.
It was the fourth straight semester that the APSU Athletic Department had 50+ percent of its athletes record a 3.0 GPA or better and the third straight fall semester the department had an overall GPA of 2.90 or better.
Overall, since the spring semester of the 2008 school year, the Govs have 13 of 18 total semesters (72.2%) with at least a 2.90 department overall GPA.
Of the 14 current sports offered — not counting beach volleyball that doesn’t begin its first collegiate season until this spring semester – 11 exceeded the 3.0 GPA threshold as a team, led by the Govs women’s tennis team with a 3.875 GPA.
Joining women’s tennis with 3.0+ GPA’s as a team were: women’s golf (3.626), volleyball (3.453), soccer (3.429), women’s cross country (3.349), men’s tennis (3.286), women’s basketball (3.179), softball (3.157), men’s cross country (3.109), baseball (3.078) and men’s golf (3.008).
As for the raw student-athlete numbers:
180 of the 335 total student-athletes (53.7%) — baseball (24), men’s basketball (5), women’s basketball (10), cheerleading (11), men’s cross country (5), women’s cross country (4), dance (7), football (43), men’s golf (5), women’s golf (8), soccer (18), softball (13), men’s tennis (5), women’s tennis (6), track and field (13) and volleyball (11) — had a 3.0-or-better GPA.
95 student-athletes (28.4%) — baseball (12), men’s basketball (1), women’s basketball (5), cheerleading (7), men’s cross country (4), women’s cross country (3), dance (3), football (10), men’s golf (3), women’s golf (7), soccer (13), softball (10), men’s tennis (4), women’s tennis (6), track and field (5) and volleyball (6) earned Dean’s List recognition (3.5 GPA)
33 student-athletes (9.9%) — baseball (2), women’s basketball (3), cheerleading (4), men’s cross country (1), women’s cross country (1), dance (2), men’s golf (1), women’s golf (3), soccer (3), softball (3), men’s tennis (2), women’s tennis (4) track and field (2) and volleyball (2) — finished the fall semester with a perfect GPA of 4.0.
So Govs fans just remember the next time you’re enjoying watching your favorite teams or players on their respective fields, court or track remember they are working just as hard in the classroom.