April 22, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS -
The NCAA honored 767 Division I athletic teams, including the Illinois State men's tennis program, with public recognition awards for their latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores, released by the national governing body Wednesday.
The teams recognized posted multi-year APR scores in the top-10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The Illinois State men's tennis squad posted a perfect score of 1,000.
Illinois State Associate Athletics Director for Compliance Cindy Harris and her staff compile and track institution's APR scores and feel that the rate represents how well athletic programs retain student-athletes and emphasize the importance of academic success.
"From my vantage point the NCAA's academic reform initiative has had a positive impact on the eligibility and retention rates of student-athletes, not just here at Illinois State but across the country," said Harris. "All of our Redbird teams excel on this unique NCAA measure of success; but for our men's tennis team to post a perfect APR score is something special."
The 767 teams publicly recognized this year for high achievement represent 11.9 percent of the approximately 6,484 Division I teams. The list includes 448 women's teams and 319 men's or mixed squads.
A total of 205 institutions out of 331 Division I colleges and universities, including Illinois State placed at least one team on the top APR list. Another six schools that offer athletics in more than one division placed Division I teams on the list as well.
Last year, a total of 712 teams were recognized. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent depending on how many achieved perfect 1,000 APR scores, like the Redbird men's tennis team.
"Having a perfect APR is great because it means our guys are graduating," said head men's tennis coach Cris James. "When I recruit student-athletes I want them to do well on the court as well as off the court so they can become successful in whatever they pursue when they leave ISU."
Multi-year APR scores for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced May 6. The announcement also will include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years.
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