Huskers Honored by NCAA for Excellence in APR

The Nebraska women's basketball program was one of three Husker teams, joining the women's golf team and the women's cross country squad, recognized by the NCAA with a public recognition award for their respective multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores. The three Husker programs were honored nationally for their academic success by the NCAA on Wednesday, April 22.

 

Coach Connie Yori’s women’s basketball team has a history of academic success. In 2008, Nebraska was one of just 12 teams in the NCAA Tournament with a 100 percent graduation rate. The Huskers, who earned their sixth consecutive trip to the postseason in 2009, also featured first-team academic All-Big 12 performers Kaitlyn Burke, Kala Kuhlmann and Jessica Periago, along with second-team honoree Cory Montgomery. Nebraska also had six women's basketball student-athletes recognized for academic achievement by the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll during the fall semester of 2008.

 

Nebraska was one of only 41 NCAA Division I schools honored for the Academic Progress Rate of its women's basketball program, and one of just two Big 12 schools, joining Missouri. The Huskers were one of just 16 teams who advanced to the postseason in 2009 who were also honored for their APR achievement.

 

The NCAA is honoring NCAA Division I sports teams with public recognition awards for their latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR). These teams posted multi-year APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.

                                                                                            

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.  

                                                               

Robin Krapfl’s women’s golf team is annually one of the nation’s top academic teams. Nebraska leads the nation with 50 NGCA Scholastic All-Americans all-time and in 2006-07, NU produced the fifth-best team grade-point average in all of collegiate golf. Each of Nebraska’s five returning letterwinners in 2008-09 owned individual GPA’s of better than 3.4.

 

In 2008, Coach Jay Dirksen’s Nebraska women’s cross country team made its first trip to the NCAA Championships since 2003. The Huskers finished 25th in the 31-team field, marking the team’s top finish since 1999 when it finished 16th. In the classroom, the team combined for a GPA of 3.664, earning it All-Academic team honors from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Of the 160 teams honored, the Husker women ranked sixth.