Villanova University

July 28, 2009

Villanova BIG EAST Academic All-Stars

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--The BIG EAST Conference this week announced its 2008-09 Academic All-Stars, a comprehensive list of the student-athletes from each league sport that have excelled in the classroom during the previous year. Villanova had 231 student-athletes recognized as Academic All-Stars from the 20 sports that are members of the BIG EAST Conference.

Nominations for the All-Academic Team are submitted by each of the BIG EAST's 16 member institutions. To be eligible for the honor, a nominee must have compted in a BIG EAST-sponsored sport, earned a varsity letter, attained a minimum grade-point average of 3.00 for the preceding academic year, and completed a minimum of two consecutive semesters or three consecutive quarters of academic work, with a total of 18 semester credits.

Each of the 20 sports teams at Villanova that compete in a BIG EAST-sponsored sport had multiple Academic All-Star selections, including the men's and women's track & field/cross country teams with 33 and 30 student-athletes recognized, respectively. The 16 institutions that make up the conference combined to place 2,662 individuals on the Academic All-Star teams, an increase of 195 student-athletes from 2007-08.

The four Wildcat teams that do not compete in a BIG EAST sport also had their share of academic success during the past year. The football team had seven players recognized on the Colonial Athletic Association All-Academic team, while the water polo team had three individuals honored on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic squad. Villanova's men's lacrosse (Colonial Athletic Association) and women's lacrosse (Independent) teams do not have formal league-sponsored academic recognition, though several members of both squads achieved notable success in the classroom this year.

Villanova student-athletes continued to excel both on and off the field in 2008-09. In the NCAA-sponsored APR, Villanova's multi-year score of 986 ranks among the nation's top 10 percent. Seven different teams were cited for through the NCAA's public recognition program. In addition, the University's Graduation Success Rate is an impressive 95 percent - the football and men's and women's basketball teams ranked among the top programs in their respective sports.

As a group, the Wildcat student-athletes maintained a composite GPA of higher than 3.0 for the 2008-09 academic year, marking 12 consecutive semesters meeting this mark. A total of 17 varsity teams earned a team GPA of 3.0 or above for the spring 2009 semester. Individually, a total of 314 (62.7%) student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.0 or above and 130 (25.9%) student-athletes achieved a GPA of 3.5 or above.