INDIANAPOLIS - The elite level of academic achievement by Wildcats student-athletes surpassed another record-breaking milestone on Wednesday afternoon when Villanova led all Division I schools with the highest percentage of its sport programs earning NCAA Public Recognition Awards. A record total of 18 teams were recognized for having a multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) score that ranked in the top 10 percent of their sport nationwide.

The latest data which was revealed on Wednesday spanned the 2013-14 through 2016-17 academic years and showed a number of different areas in which Villanova ranks at or near the top of all Division I programs for the continued academic success of its student-athletes. The following points are just a few of the highlights from the announcement of the public recognition awards:

• Villanova had the highest percentage of its teams recognized of any Division I school (82%)
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• Villanova ranked in the top five of all Division I schools in total number of teams recognized (18)
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• Villanova is one of five schools to be recognized in men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football
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• Villanova had the most public recognition awards of any BIG EAST school
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• Villanova was one of two CAA Football programs to earn a public recognition award

Villanova had 11 women’s programs and seven men’s programs cited for their academic achievement in Wednesday’s announcement. The complete list of teams earning public recognition awards includes baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, field hockey, football, golf, women’s lacrosse, rowing, women’s soccer, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, women’s track & field, volleyball and water polo.

This is the 13th year that Academic Progress Rate (APR) data has been collected for Division I schools. The metric provides a real-time measure of a sport program’s academic performance based on points earned each semester by student-athletes for their academic standing and retention. A mark of 1000 represents a perfect score. Since the APR program was put into place, the three Villanova programs which have earned public recognition awards most often are women’s track & field (10 recognition awards), golf and men’s tennis (nine recognition awards each).

Villanova is one of just four Division I schools to have 18 or more teams recognized in Wednesday’s announcement and is the only school to have over 80 percent of its programs earn a public recognition award. The latest data is yet another indicator of across-the-board student-athlete success at Villanova. The spring academic semester which just concluded was the 30th consecutive semester in which Wildcats student-athletes maintained a collective grade-point average above a 3.0, and the seventh straight semester in which the GPA for student-athletes was higher than a 3.2.