A record-breaking 198 student athletes composed the Fall 2015 OCU Athletic Director’s List.
The list, compiled each semester, honors athletes who achieve a 3.0 grade-point average or higher. The list’s average GPA was 3.15 last semester. Student athletes set the previous record in fall 2013, when the list included 197 athletes.
“It means that the athletic department is committed to the mission of OCU,” Athletic Director Jim Abbott said. “This drive shows up in the teams’ competitiveness, academic accomplishments and service they do in the community.”
Last semester, 15 student-athletes made a 4.0 or better GPA. Sixty-six had a 3.75 or better, and 116 posted a 3.5 or higher.
The list includes members from the following teams:
- Cross Country and Track and Field: 32
- Wrestling: 28
- Rowing: 27
- Soccer: 27
- Pom/Dance: 20
- Cheerleading: 14
- Golf: 14
- Baseball: 11
- Basketball: nine
- Volleyball: nine, and
- Softball: eight
“Balancing athletics and academics is definitely hard, but it’s incredibly worth it to show that you are fully capable of working hard on the field and off,” Sophomore Midfielder Keeley Brewer said. “All the coaches and staff invest so much time, energy and money that it would be wrong to not give everything that you have in the classroom.”
Another student athlete said sports help him through the rough times, academic or otherwise.
“The balance isn’t too hard when you do something you love,” Senior Runner Dylan Smith-Sutton said. “For me, that something is running. Pressing hard in athletics means pressing equally hard in academics and vice versa.”
When one coach saw the list, he said he was proud but not surprised.
“Isn’t that why kids go to school? To get good grades,” Track Coach Conor Holt said. “It goes to show the quality of the kids we recruit here to the university, as well as the coaching staff. We will continue to grow athletically and academically, so I hope the university grows at the same pace and invests more in the operating budgets of all the athletic teams. It’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon.”
For the complete list, visit http://www.ocusports.com/news/2016/1/19/CHAMP_0119162204.aspx.
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