Six Bryant teams receive APR recognition
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Six Bryant University athletic teams have been recognized for their academic achievement and are among over 1,000 NCAA Division I sports teams that are being recognized for outstanding performance in the classroom. The APR is an annual scorecard of academic achievement calculated for all Division I sports teams nationally.
The six teams that were recognized were volleyball, women's tennis, women's soccer, men's track and field, men's cross country and baseball.
The APR measures eligibility, graduation and retention each term and provides a clear picture of the academic performance for each team in every sport. The 1,071 teams publicly recognized for high achievement include 649 women's teams and 422 men's or mixed squads. This year, schools combined the indoor and outdoor track and field teams into one team score, which slightly reduced the overall number of teams earning Public Recognition Awards.
The scores required for top 10-percent rankings ranged from 983 to a perfect 1,000, depending on the sport. Earning a perfect APR score were 944 teams.
While the winter championships season is still ongoing and spring championships have not taken place, five NCAA national champions are already included in this year's award list: Villanova University men's basketball; University of California, Los Angeles, men's water polo; Columbia University men's fencing; University of Georgia women's swimming and diving; Pennsylvania State University women's soccer; and Penn State wrestling.
A total of 290 schools placed at least one team on the top APR list.
Gonzaga University led all schools with the highest percentage of its teams (80 percent) among those at the top of the APR list. More than three-quarters of Lafayette College's teams made the list.
All Division I teams' APR scores will be released April 20. All teams must meet a certain academic threshold to qualify for the postseason and can face penalties for continued low academic performance.
The most recent APRs are multiyear rates based on scores from the 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years.