Brooklyn, N.Y. -- Three Long Island University athletics programs were among those honored by the NCAA for high academic achievements it was announced on Thursday. A total of 19 teams across the Northeast Conference were among 767 across the nation recognized for their latest Academic Progress Rate scores. The recognized teams posted multi-year APR scores among the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports.
The LIU women's cross country, indoor track and field program along with the women's golf team were honored for their academic prowess. It marks the second consecutive year that each of the aforementioned programs received recognition for their APR scores. High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 976 to a perfect 1,000 over the data collection period.
Of 381schools that sponsor at least one sport at the Division I level, 211 had a team in the top 10 percent for APR. For a complete list by sport of teams receiving awards, click here. For the same list sorted by school, click here.
The most recent APR scores are multi-year rates based on the scores from the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years. The public-recognition awards are part of the overall Division I academic-reform effort. The teams recognized this year represent 11.8 percent of the 6,484 Division I teams. The list includes 319 men's teams and 448 women's teams.
For the third consecutive year, Yale had the most teams (28) recognized, followed by Dartmouth (21) and Brown (21). By conference, the Ivy Group had 144 teams honored, followed by the Patriot League (85) and the Big East (60).
In women's sports, tennis again featured the most teams with 57, followed by volleyball (48), golf (46) and basketball (40). The men's sports with the highest number of teams honored were cross country (35), basketball (35) and golf (32).
Last year, a total of 712 teams were recognized. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent, depending on how many teams achieved perfect 1,000 APR scores. In some sports, teams had to maintain a perfect score over the four-year period to be recognized.
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 both retention at an institution and academic eligibility in its calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
The next round of multi-year APR scores for all Division I sports teams will be announced May 6.