The Belmont University Department of Athletics recently announced that its student-athletes had one of their most successful semesters in the classroom since the program moved to NCAA Division I.
For the 2007 fall semester, Belmont had a department grade point average (GPA) of 3.254, which is the highest GPA for the fall semester in the department’s Division I era. The fall 2007 GPA is also among the top-three highest GPAs recorded by the department in both the fall or spring semesters behind a 3.288 in the spring of 2002 and 3.273 in the spring of 2005. Also, every Belmont team had a team GPA of over 3.0 for the first time in the Division I era. The top three sports in terms of team GPA are Women’s Cross Country (3.619), Women’s Golf (3.538) and Men’s Golf (3.503).
In addition, nearly 72 percent of Belmont student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA for the fall semester. This percentage is nearly six percent higher than the fall semester of 2006. Both the women’s cross country and women’s golf team had all of their members post a 3.0 GPA for the fall semester.
“Our student-athletes work extremely hard on the court, course, and field, as well as the classroom,” said Renee Schultz, Belmont Athletic‘s Academic Coordinator. “They optimize what it means to be a student-athlete day in and day out. I couldn’t be more proud of them; they have earned this honor.”
Not only were Belmont student-athletes successful in the classroom, they also garnered success on the field as well this past fall. Belmont won two conference championships (men’s and women’s cross country), saw Lauren Weaver become the second Belmont female runner to compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, and for the first time, witnessed all five Belmont fall sports qualify for their respective Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament .
“I am very pleased by the performance of our student-athletes in the classroom during the past semester,” said Mike Strickland, Belmont Director of Athletics. “It is because of their hard work and desire to do well in their studies that we are able to produce this achievement. I also appreciate the work of our coaching staff, who emphasize academics on a day-to-day basis with their student-athletes, as well as to our academic support staff, who work hard to give our student-athletes the tools to become successful in the classroom.”
