June 11, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Academic excellence has always been a pillar of Illinois State Athletics, but Redbird student-athletes have taken that practice to unprecedented levels in recent years with record-setting semesters. The Spring 2009 semester may have been the best in the history of the department with the three department and five team grade-point average (GPA) records set.
The athletics department posted a 3.13 GPA in the semester, shattering the previous record of 3.05 from the Fall 2007 semester. ISU set its third GPA record in the last five years with record GPA's for both the men's and women's departments. The six ISU men's teams combined for a 2.94 GPA, breaking the previous record of 2.83 from Fall 2007. The nine women's teams combined for a 3.32 GPA, surpassing the 3.26 mark from the Spring 2008 semester.
The men's tennis team posted the highest GPA for a men's team for the third-consecutive semester with a 3.48. The GPA was the highest in program and department history, surpassing the 3.28 the men's tennis team achieved in the Spring 2008 semester. The men's basketball team also attained a program-record 2.86 GPA, surpassing the 2.81 the team accumulated in the Fall 2005 semester.
The best women's GPA for the semester was a 3.60, achieved by both the golf and tennis teams. The women's golf team was one of three women's programs to record their best semesters ever, along with the soccer (3.40) and swimming and diving (3.36) teams.
The department set another record with 44 student-athletes achieving a 4.0 GPA for the semester, just edging past the previous record of 43 from the Fall 2008 semester. The AFNI Athletics Honor Roll consisted of 230 student-athletes and the department had just two percent of its student-athletes on academic probation, the lowest percentage ever.
Even with all of this dedication to academics, Redbird student-athletes still found time to contribute to another pillar of the department: community service. For the fourth-straight year, ISU Athletics accumulated over 2,000 hours of community service with a school-record 2,518.5 hours contributed to over 50 different organizations.
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