Two Bronco Teams Recognized in NCAA APR Announcement
INDIANAPOLIS - Two Western Michigan University athletic
teams are among Division I teams nationwide being honored by the NCAA
for posting Academic Progress Rates in the top 10 percent for their
respective sports. WMU men’s basketball and women's tennis were recognized in Wednesday’s announcement from the NCAA.
The
NCAA is honoring more than 800 Division I sports teams with public
recognition awards for their latest Academic Progress Rate scores. These
teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads
in their respective sports.
These awards are given each year to
teams scoring in the top 10 percent in each sport with their APRs. 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.
The men's basketball team is the only Mid-American Conference representative in that sport and is being recognized by the NCAA for the third time. Men's basketball also earned NCAA APR recognition in 2007 and 2009. The Broncos have been the premier academic men's basketball program in the MAC with multiple Academic All-Americans (Joe Reitz, David Kool) and 11-of-26 Academic All-MAC selections over the last five seasons. This season, the Broncos (18-15) finished in the top two in the MAC West for the seventh consecutive season and reached the semifinals of the MAC Tournament.
The women's tennis team is one of the top academic programs in the country and is earning NCAA APR recognition for the second time (2007). The Broncos are the only Division I team to earn Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team honors in every year of the award's existence. Western Michigan extended its streak to 28 consecutive years in the top three of the MAC and reached the finals of the MAC Tournament for the sixth consecutive season in 2010.
Across the two sports recognized by the NCAA, Western
Michigan boasts 11 student-athletes carrying at least a 3.0 GPA, five with a 3.5 GPA or higher and one student-athlete carrying a 4.0 GPA.
In comparison with the rest of the MAC, 10-of-12 schools had at least one team earn recognition, while WMU was one of four programs, and the only one in the MAC West, to have more than one team make the
list with Akron, Kent State and Miami.
Each year the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly
recognizing their latest multiyear APR. This announcement is part of the overall
Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams who
demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes
by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports.
Multiyear APRs
for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public
recognition, will be announced at a later date. That announcement also will
include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams.
