Another banner academic year for Bearkat athletics
6/25/2010 9:00:00 AM | Athletics
With the release of grade point averages for the more than 400 Bearkats participating in varsity sports plus the announcement by the Southland Conference office of the annual Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll, the 2009-10 season goes in the books as another banner academic year for Sam Houston State University.
Student-athletes at Sam Houston State produced an overall grade point average of 2.87 during the 2010 spring semester, the eighth consecutive semester for SHSU varsity sports to post a department GPA above 2.85.
During the 2009-10 academic year, a total of 167 Bearkat student-athletes earned spots on the Southland Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll.
Five Bearkat sports teams produced squad grade point averages of 3.0 or higher. The top team was volleyball with a 3.32 GPA followed by tennis (3.15), softball (3.13), soccer (3.11) and women's golf (3.02).
The 2.87 department grade point average marks the 29th consecutive semester for the Bearkats to post an overall GPA above 2.5 and the 36th semester in a row above a 2.3 average (every year since the 1992-93 sports season). The athletic program's GPA is a mark higher than the overall student population at Sam Houston State.
"Give the credit for our academic success to our outstanding student-athletes and our coaching staff who recruit such quality young men and women," Williams said. "We take as much pride in our student-athletes' performances in the class room as their accomplishments in the arena. Each year these young men and women seem to raise the bar for themselves. Chris Thompson and her staff in academics do a great job each year coordinating our student-athletes' efforts in the classroom."
Sixteen student-athletes produced perfect 4.00 GPAs during the 2009 spring semester. The 16 student-athletes were John Hale (baseball), Randy Stewart and Jeff Welch (football), Stephanie Pustejovsky (women's golf), Beau Willis (men's golf), Anna Ferguson (volleyball), Kelley Sikinger and Katie Wesneski (soccer), Amy Brown, Tomi Garrison and Amanda Lindsey (softball), Jessica Fisher, Kristi Hermes and Jenny Zoch (women's track and field) and Roger Rueweler and Blake Woolums (men's track and field).
| Sam Houston Athletic Grade Point Averages For Last 36 Semesters |
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1992-93 Fall 2.53 - Spring 2.41 |
Director of athletics Bobby Williams and associate athletic director for student services Chris Thompson announced the academic performances Friday.
Other academic highlights for the Bearkats during the 2009-10 included the selection of center Jordan Bowersox from football and goalkeeper Jenny Pence from soccer to the CoSIDA All-America All-District Six honor squads.
Brittany Brooks, senior women's basketball point guard, became the ninth Bearkat in the past five years to be voted as Southland Conference "Student Athlete of the Year" for her sport.
Ten Sam Houston student-athletes were voted to the Southland's Academic All-Conference honor squads.
Sam Houston has ranked among the top three in the Southland Conference in Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll selections each of the past six years and has led the league in total selections four of those seasons.
To earn a spot on the honor roll, an athlete must maintain a 3.0 overall grade point average or higher during the semester in which the student-athlete's sport competes. Sports included on the fall honor roll are football, volleyball, soccer and cross country.
Members of the 2009-10 Southland Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll are:
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BASEBALL MEN'S WOMEN'S
MEN'S WOMEN'S WOMEN'S GOLF MEN'S GOLF |
FOOTBALL TENNIS VOLLEYBALL
*Academic # Southland
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SOCCER MEN'S WOMEN'S |
