Northwestern University Athletics
Nine Wildcat Programs Recognized by NCAA For Top APR
4/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
April 26, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Today, the NCAA is honoring more than 800 Division I sports teams with public recognition awards for their latest Academic Progress Rate scores.
Nine of those teams come from Northwestern, which had nearly half of its 19 varsity sports recognized for posting multi-year scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.
Northwestern's nine recognized sports include: baseball, women's fencing, men's golf, women's golf, women's lacrosse, men's soccer, men's tennis, women's volleyball and wrestling.
High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 975 to a perfect 1,000, said NCAA President Myles Brand.
"These teams prove once again that student-athletes are students first, and many of them are excellent students," Brand said. "I want to personally congratulate these teams and their student-athletes who are working hard in their sport and in the classroom and setting a great example for all students."
"All of our programs are scoring well with the new academic reform system," said Mark Murphy, Northwestern's director of athletics. "But these nine are leading the way at Northwestern. We have outstanding students who are competing at the highest level -- this speaks highly of our coaches and student-athletes who strive for excellence both in the classroom and on the courts and fields."
Northwestern has finished 29th the past two years in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup overall athletic standings -- its best two finishes since the program started.
Multi-year APR scores for all 6,110 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced Wednesday, May 2. The announcement also will include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams.
