By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For the 16th consecutive semester, Tennessee Tech's student-athletes have combined for an overall grade point average above the 3.0 mark, wrapping up the recent Fall semester with a 3.234 mark by the 14 Golden Eagles sports teams.
"Our student-athletes established incredibly high academic standards several years ago, and each semester we have seen them maintain and exceed those standards," said TTU Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. "This was another incredible semester in the classroom for our student-athletes."
The 14-team composite GPA represents the second highest in TTU Athletics history, surpassed only by the 3.293 mark earned during the spring semester in 2014.
The Golden Eagle men's tennis team posted not only its highest GPA in team history, it also tallied the highest mark in the history of TTU Athletics with a 3.680. The mark led all 14 Tech teams and was closely followed by the soccer team. The squad recorded the second highest GPA among all teams in athletics history, a mark of 3.672.
Head coach Bonnie Bynum's softball team ranked third among all Tech teams with a 3.550 GPA. The volleyball team, which earned its highest ever team GPA, finished fourth with a 3.463 and the women's golf team finished just behind with a 3.416.
The Tech football team topped its previous best team GPA of 2.936 in the spring of 2014 by posting a 2.966 mark in the fall. In all, 10 of Tech's 14 teams achieved GPAs of 3.0 or higher for the semester and 12 teams improved their GPAs from the marks they set during the fall semester in 2015.
Rounding out the list of Fall 2016 team GPAs were women's cross country (3.365), women's indoor track & field (3.177), women's outdoor track & field (3.177), men's cross country (3.055), baseball (3.044), women's basketball (2.992), men's golf (2.874) and men's basketball (2.844)
The success has been shared across the board. In the past 12 semesters, five different teams have posted the highest GPA of the semester. In addition, a total of nine different squads have ranked first or second on the list.
"Academic success is an area we focus on and have placed a lot of emphasis in, and these results provide positive feedback that we are continuing to achieve our goals," Wilson said. "We are extremely proud of our student-athletes. Ultimately, they are the ones who have done the coursework and achieved these grades.
"From the student-athletes to the coaching staffs to the administration, there is a strong commitment toward academic success, and these results show that the programs we have in place, such as the WIN (Work Intensely Now) program, are working. These positive academic trends are a testament to the efforts of all of the people involved, and the work of (TTU Assistant Athletics Director for Academics) Dr. Lance Jasitt and his staff," Wilson said.
The volleyball team owns the longest streak of consecutive semesters above 3.0 with 33 semesters dating all the way back to the Fall 2000 marks. The Fall 2016 semester marked the 26th consecutive semester that Golden Eagle soccer has beaten the 3.0 milestone and 31st time in 32 semesters. Softball and women's indoor and outdoor track & field have streaks of 25 consecutive semesters over the 3.0 plateau, while tennis completed its 17th in a row above that milestone.
