Dumb jocks barely squeak through college classes?
That may be the stereotype, but it’s not true for hundreds of athletes at Southern California universities.
Seven athletic teams from Pepperdine, six from UCLA and five from USC were among 1,203 NCAA Division I teams recognized for outstanding academic achievements.
Four teams from UC Irvine, three each from Cal State Northridge and Loyola Marymount, two from Cal State Long Beach and the Cal State Fullerton women’s tennis team earned NCAA Public Recognition Awards for having multiyear Academic Progress Rates scores in the top 10 percent of their sport.
The total number of teams being recognized increased by 132 from a year ago, largely as a result of an increase in perfect scores, according to the NCAA.
The Pepperdine teams honored were men’s cross-country, golf, volleyball and women’s cross-country, golf, tennis, and swimming and diving.
The UCLA teams honored were men’s tennis and volleyball and women’s cross-country, golf, beach volleyball and water polo. The USC teams honored were baseball, men’s volleyball and women’s cross-country, golf and tennis.
The UC Irvine men’s cross-country and tennis and women’s cross-country and volleyball teams were honored.
The men’s golf, and women’s cross-country and tennis teams from Cal State Northridge were honored as were the Loyola Marymount University men’s cross-country and track teams and the women’s swimming and diving team.
The Cal State Long Beach men’s track and women’s golf teams were honored.
The Academic Progress Rate was created by the NCAA in 2004 in an effort to more accurately measure student-athletes’ progress and improve graduation rates. It is used to determine penalties for academically underperforming athletic programs.
The rate is a four-year average of academic performance that rewards student-athletes for remaining eligible as well as continuing education at the same school.
Every player receiving an athletic scholarship earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by 1,000 to determine the Academic Progress Rate.
Teams scoring lower than 930 can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships.
—City News Service