Bearkat student-athletes post record GPA
7/16/2008 1:00:00 AM | Athletics
Sam Houston State's 350 student-athletes combined for a 2.93 overall grade point average during the 2008 spring semester, a new record high GPA for the department.
The old record high GPA was 2.90 during both the fall and spring semesters of the 2006-07 academic year.
Sam Houston director of athletics Bobby Williams and associate athletic director for student services Chris Thompson announced the Bearkats' academic performances for the 2008 spring semester Wednesday.
The 2.93 GPA in spring, 2008, marks the ninth consecutive semester for Bearkat athletics to post a 3.75 or higher GPA. Eight of those nine semesters, the athletic GPA has been a mark higher than the GPA for the university's general student population.
Each of the Bearkats' sports teams compiled GPAs of 2.4 or higher.
Five teams produced GPAs over 3.0 on the 4.0 scale including women's golf (3.38), tennis (3.29), volleyball (3.23), soccer (3.20) and softball (3.03).
During the spring semester, 17 Bearkat student-athletes had perfect 4.0 GPAs and 107 produced 3.0 or higher GPAs.
"We are extremely proud of our athletes' achievements in the classroom and commend our coaching staff for the tremendous job they do in recruiting quality student-athletes," Sam Houston director of athletics Bobby Williams said. "The No. 1 goal for each of our sports teams is to have our athletes earn their Sam Houston State degrees.
This spring's performance in the classroom during the fall marks the 25th consecutive academic semester that the overall department GPA has been 2.5 or higher.
Sam Houston State student-athletes compiling a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the spring semester include Irina Sotnikova (tennis); Anna Ferguson, Sarah Hazelwood and Brittanie Wallace (volleyball); Kendra Spivey (softball); Benjamin Smith (men's golf); Jennifer Heinz (women's golf); Katie Sanders (women's basketball); Josh Hawkins and Dustin Joubert (men's track and field); Kendall Bass (women's track and field); Ryan Bright and Barkley Falkner (men's basketball) and Debbie Campbell, Kayla Elwood, Brittany Foerstner and Jenny Pence (soccer).
“Credit for the academic success goes to the student-athletes who have worked so hard in the class room and our coaching staffs who have recruited quality young men and women,” Thompson said.
