FORT MYERS, Fla. – FGCU Athletics continues to epitomize what embodies a student-athlete as the Eagles – who won another seven conference regular season or tournament championships in 2017-18 – extended their outstanding performance in the classroom with an impressive and record-breaking 3.35 term GPA for the spring of 2018.
The 3.35 GPA surpasses the previous all-time mark of 3.33 set in both the spring of 2015 and fall of 2013. Additionally, Eagle student-athletes have now exceeded the FGCU undergraduate semester mark (2.99) for the 18th-consecutive semester.
All totaled, a record-tying 14 of the Green and Blue's teams earned term GPAs greater than 3.0 for the spring, 11 posted GPAs of at least 3.3 and four had at least a 3.5. Programs which posted record-establishing GPAs were men's soccer (3.34 term), beach volleyball (3.57 cumulative) and women's soccer (3.68 term), with record-tying performances by men's golf (3.33 term) and volleyball (3.53 cumulative).
Highlighting the accolades was women's tennis with a 3.87 cumulative GPA – just shy of matching its own record for highest cumulative GPA in FGCU Athletics' history (3.88 last fall). Women's soccer had the highest team sport GPA with a 3.68, just edging out beach volleyball (3.67).
The most improved team sport GPA from last fall was volleyball with a term increase of 0.39 – going from a 3.20 to a 3.59. The most improved individual sport GPA went to men's tennis with a term jump of 0.06 – going from a 2.98 to a 3.04.
Individually, 38 student-athletes finished with a 4.0 GPA for the semester, representing 15 percent of the entire student-athlete body named to the President's List with perfect grades for the term. Among the overall population of 248 student-athletes, 88 (35 percent) made the Dean's List (3.5+) and 193 (78 percent) landed on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (3.0+).
"We remain exceptionally proud of our student-athletes for the outstanding efforts they continue to put forth in the classroom, while also succeeding in their competitions and serving as role models throughout Southwest Florida," said Director of Athletics
Ken Kavanagh. "It's also a strong testament to our student-athletes that they can produce these academic results while also earning several more conference championships and participating in postseason play. Their devotion to excellence is a source of pride for not only FGCU Athletics, but for the entire University. Likewise, we continue to be very appreciative of the tremendous roles that our outstanding faculty,
Kelly Jean Brock and our academic staff, as well as our coaches and donors play in the overall equation."
Perfectly embodying success in and out of competitions, eight student-athletes were named to their respective ASUN All-Academic teams in the spring, bringing the total to 12 for the year:
Taylor Gradinjan (women's basketball),
Amanda Carroll and
Karissa Rhoades (beach volleyball),
Julianna Curtis,
Bridget Forster and
Julia Ascúa (women's tennis),
Mario Leon (Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year) and
Racquel Fournet (softball).
"The continued academic successes speak to the type of student-athletes our coaches recruit and the expectations they create for them in and out of their competitions," said Brock, Assistant Athletics Director, Director of the Hartley Academic Resource Center. "With support from our campus partners and the Athletics Department, our student-athletes continue to excel in the classroom and set the bar high for future Eagles."
Outstanding achievements academically and athletically is nothing new to Eagle student-athletes. In a testament to past athletic successes, the Eagles have won the ASUN All-Sports Championship four of the last six years, and have claimed the Sherman Day Trophy as the league's top women's athletic program four-consecutive years.
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 70 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 11 seasons at the Division-I level. Additionally, in just seven seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had 33 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships.
ABOUT FGCU
Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best 6th-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. FGCU also served an all-time high 7,200+ volunteer hours – being recognized as one of two runner-ups for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
FOLLOW ALONG
Ticket information for upcoming events is available by logging on to FGCUTickets.com or by calling 239-590-7145. Additional news and schedule information is available at FGCUAthletics.com. Follow us on Twitter (@FGCUEagles), Facebook (/FGCUAthletics), Instagram (@FGCUAthletics) and YouTube (/FGCUAthletics).
