UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond had eight of its athletic programs honored by the NCAA with Public Recognition Awards based on their most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR), as announced by the organization on Thursday.
The NCAA presents these prestigious honors annually to teams with APRs in the top 10 percent of all Division I squads in their respective sports. The awards are based on the recent APR numbers that represent a combination of scores from the 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years.
Four Spider men's teams in basketball, soccer, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field earned public recognition, while field hockey, golf, lacrosse and outdoor track & field followed suit on the women's side. Men's soccer represented the lone conference program to receive recognition in the sport.
Richmond ranked second among all Atlantic 10 schools with seven programs receiving Public Recognition Awards. Women's golf plays in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and serves as the Spiders' eighth overall squad to earn the honor.
The NCAA's announcement comes as part of the broad Division I academic reform effort and is meant to highlight programs that exercise a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by earning the top APR scores within their respective sports.
A record 954 NCAA Division I sports teams consisting of 560 women's teams and 394 men's or mixed squads were honored by the NCAA with Public Recognition Awards. Top performing APRs this year ranged from 978 to a perfect 1,000, with the majority of programs achieving a perfect APR score. Full multi-year APR scores for all teams will be released on June 20.
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.
Stay updated on all the latest Spider news here on RichmondSpiders.com and by accessing Richmond Athletics' mobile apps on your Smartphone or tablet. Additional coverage can be found by following the Spiders on Facebook and on Twitter.
