Games and Grades

April 30, 2009 • By The Breeze,
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HARRISONBURG, Va. — JMU’s athletes have been working up a sweat on and off the field.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has recognized seven JMU teams for outstanding academic achievement. The teams recognized are women’s cross country, women’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, women’s indoor track and field, women’s outdoor track and field and women’s volleyball.

The recognition was based on the Multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. Teams that were in the top 10 percent APR of their respective sports were recognized.

Each student athlete can earn two points per year. One point is earned for being academically eligible (above a 2.0 GPA). Another is earned if the student-athlete returns to the university as a full time student the following academic year. An additional two points are earned if the student-athlete graduates.

The APR is calculated by taking all points earned by each student athlete over the past two years and dividing that number by the total possible points that could have been earned. That results in a decimal that is then multiplied by 1,000.

JMU has the most teams recognized in the 12-team Colonial Athletic Association.

Coaches agree that while they encourage academic success, the responsibility of managing time and doing well in school falls on the student athletes.

“We place the responsibility on the student athletes and they know the expectations and they live up to them,” said Bill Walton, director of Cross Country and Track.

Academic achievement is a big part of the student athlete experience at JMU.

“Our feeling is that you can have it both ways,” Walton said. “You can do well academically and you can do well athletically and I think this is just a conformation of that belief.”

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