ASU athletics set a new school record with seven teams being recognized for being in the top 10 nationally in academics in the NCAA's most recent Academic Progress Report, according to an announcement from ASU athletics.
Great work by our seven teams recognized in the NCAA APR report! http://t.co/rZMN6B0hlu
— Ray Anderson (@SunDevilRay23) May 20, 2015
The seven teams is the most ASU has ever acknowledged in the 11 years since the yearly report began. ASU's previous record was four, set last year.
Baseball, men's basketball, men's golf, softball, women's cross country, women's tennis and volleyball were all recognized in the NCAA report.
ASU athletic director Ray Anderson issued a statement on the accomplishment.
“The APR scores of these seven programs represent the nation’s elite in their respective sports,” Anderson said in the statement. “We are very proud of the coaches and the student-athletes in these programs. This is a direct result of the excellent work being done by our Office of Student-Athlete Development, led by award-winning Senior Associate Athletics Director Jean Boyd, his staff and support from our faculty, staff and coaching staffs. The real stars here are the student-athletes themselves for their excellent work in the classroom.“
ASU trailed only Stanford, who had 13 teams recognized, in the Pac-12. Cal and USC, who each had three, were immediately behind ASU among Pac-12 schools.
Senior associate athletic director for student athlete development and performance Jean Boyd also issued a statement.
"To be in such an elite academic conference and be in second place with seven teams receiving top-10 percentile recognition for their Academic Progress Rate speaks volumes about the standard we have created for academic achievement in Sun Devil Athletics," Boyd said in the statement.
Women's tennis achieved its ninth-consecutive year with a perfect APR score of 1000. The team, coached by Sheila McInerney, has achieved a top-10 ranking in every year since the APR was implemented.
“I think our APR score is a reflection of the synergy among the ASU administration, Office of Student-Athlete Development, ASU support staff, coaches and most of all the student-athletes themselves,” McInerney said in her statement. “We are fortunate here at ASU that we all believe you can have the best of all worlds: being successful students, athletes and enjoying your time while being a Sun Devil. A lot of credit goes to our academic coach Denzel Burrell.”
ASU, Stanford and USC were the only Pac-12 schools in the top 10 of APR for baseball for the second consecutive year. According to ASU's press release, 21 current ASU baseball student athletes have a 3.0 GPA or higher, earning "Scholar Baller" recognition.
The University posted its highest multiyear APR since it was implemented, scoring a 982.
Reach the reporter at fardaya@asu.edu or follow @fardaya15 on Twitter.
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