Huskers Earn Academic Honor from NCAA

Lincoln - Nebraska's women's basketball and women's cross country teams were honored by the NCAA on Wednesday for their exceptional work in the classroom as part of the NCAA's Academic Performance Program. The two Nebraska teams were among more than 800 teams from across the country recognized for their outstanding classroom work.

Each year the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multi-year APR. This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams who demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports. Specifically, these teams posted multi-year APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.

The Husker women's basketball team, which enjoyed its best season on the court in school history by rolling to a 32-2 record that included a Big 12 regular-season title, also led the conference with six first-team academic All-Big 12 selections. Coach Connie Yori's Huskers, who advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in school history, were one of just 19 teams in the 64-team 2010 NCAA Tournament to post a perfect 100 percent score in the GSR.

All six Husker seniors earned their bachelor's degrees during the 2009-10 academic year, including third-round WNBA draft pick Cory Montgomery and Nicole Neals, who both completed their undergraduate degrees in December in just 3 1/2 years. Big 12 Player of the Year and first-round WNBA draft pick Kelsey Griffin earned her degree in May, along with fellow first-team All-Big 12 pick Yvonne Turner, Nikki Bober and Kala Kuhlmann. Griffin was also named Nebraska's first recipient across all sports of the prestigious Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

The women's cross country team under the direction of Head Coach Jay Dirksen has won Nebraska's Herman Award the past three years as the team with the highest grade-point average, including a 3.709 GPA during the 2009 calendar year.

During the 2009 cross country season, the Huskers were named a U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association All-Academic team, as they posted the eighth-best GPA of the 176 teams honored across the country. Individually, nine Huskers were named first-team selections to the Big 12 All-Academic Team and were led by sophomore pre-pharmacy major Katie White, who was one of seven runners in the conference to post a perfect 4.0 GPA.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance. Multi-year APRs for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition, will be announced at a later date.