April 25, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS - Santa Clara University had two athletic programs received public recognition by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for their latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. The Broncos' women's soccer and women's water polo teams were each honored for the second straight year.
A total of 712 Division I sports teams earned public recognition awards from the NCAA. These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The teams recognized this year represent 11.4 percent of the 6,272 Division I teams. The list includes 401 women's teams and 311 men's or mixed squads. A total of 192 Division I institutions had at least one team on the top APR list. High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 965 to a perfect 1,000 over the data collection period.
"Congratulations to these teams and their student-athletes for success in the classroom," NCAA President Myles Brand said. "They are setting a great example for their peers and future student-athletes, as well."
The effort is part of a public-recognition program the Division I Board of Directors approved in January 2006. By sport, women's tennis featured the most teams (46), followed by women's volleyball (41) and women's golf (39). The men's sport with the highest number of teams were basketball and cross country (both with 33) and golf (32). This is the first year that basketball led men's sports.
Last year, a total of 839 teams were recognized. There are fewer awards this year than last year because there are fewer teams with perfect scores. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent depending on how many achieved perfect 1,000 APR scores. In some sports, teams had to maintain a perfect score over the four-year period in order to be recognized.
Multi-year APR scores for all 6,272 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced May 6. The announcement also will include immediate and historically based penalties for low-performing teams.
The public recognition awards by sport and institution can be found by clicking here.
