ANDERSON, S.C. – After reclaiming the Anderson University Athletic Department's top academic honor last fall, the Trojan women's cross country team has edged the men's tennis squad for top academic honors following the spring semester, as announced by the department on Monday afternoon.
After women's tennis equaled women's cross country for a then departmental-record sixth time a year ago, the women's cross country team posted a 3.57 GPA for this past fall, narrowly edging women's track and field for the honor.
During the spring semester, women's cross country built on their stellar academic effort and followed up by recording a 3.69 overall GPA to claim the latest honor within the department, with men's tennis posting a 3.65 GPA. This marks the eighth semester since the fall term of 2008 that the women's cross country team has earned the accolade. They also paced the department in both semesters of the 2008-09 academic year and for six semesters out of seven academic terms from 2008-2011.
The Dr. Shirley Jacks Award is given to the team that possesses the highest grade point average at the end of each semester and the team will be presented the trophy during the fall.
Nearly every team achieved at least a 3.0 GPA for the semester and more than 100 AU student-athletes are expected to be named to the South Atlantic Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll later this month.
"We are very proud of our student-athletes' academic accomplishments," said Director of Athletics Bill D'Andrea." "They have a lot of demands on their time and have to balance a very rigorous schedule – both academically and athletically. Our faculty, which does a tremendous job of working with our student-athletes, deserves credit for the increase, along with our coaches and of course our student-athletes themselves."
