Bowlers Earn NTCA Academic Honors
7/3/2016 8:18:00 AM | Women's Bowling
With six team members earning special individual recognition, the 2015-16 Sam Houston women's bowling team has been honored by the National Tenpin Coaches Association for posting one of the top three team overall grade point averages (GPA) in the NCAA Division I sport.
The Bearkats' team GPA of 3.62 stands third nationally, marking the fourth year in a row Sam Houston has ranked among the top three women's intercollegiate bowling programs academically and the fifth time to stand among the nation's top trio in the six-year history of Sam Houston women's bowling.
Seventeen schools were honored as top academic achievers for the 2015-16 season.
Erin Brown (health major), Anna Groce (kinesiology), Carrie Hopkinson (plant and soil science), Janine Kuwahara (accounting/international business), Heather Penatzer (political science) and Randi Speiler (criminal justice) all received Academic All-NTCA recognition as well. A total of 163 student-athletes from 32 programs were represented among this year's NTCA individual academic honorees.
To receive this honor, bowlers must have maintained a 3.4 cumulative GPA for the 2015-16 school year.
Sam Houston also exceled on the lanes again this season. The Bearkats reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 NCAA Championships in North Brunswick, New Jersey, and tied a school record with 102 dual match wins. Sam Houston finished No. 6 in the final NTCA national rankings. That performance makes the Kat bowlers six-for-six in NTCA top 10 final national rankings in the program's history.
Seventy-five of the team's 102 wins this year came over teams ranked in the national top 25.
“From the beginning, our goal as an NCAA Division I bowling team was to achieve at a top level nationally both athletically and academically,” Sam Houston head coach Brad Hagen said. “Congratulations to go our team members for representing our university so well.”
