FGCU Athletics continues to epitomize the ideal of the student-athlete as the Eagles — who have won five conference regular season or tournament championships already this year — extended their outstanding performance in the classroom with an impressive 3.25 cumulative GPA for fall 2017.
Eagle student-athletes exceeded the FGCU undergraduate semester mark (3.06) for the 17th-consecutive semester. A record-tying 14 of the Green and Blue’s 15 teams earned cumulative GPAs greater than 3.0 for the fall, nine clubs posted GPAs of at least 3.3 and a five had at least a 3.5.
Highlighting the team accolades was women’s tennis with a 3.88 — the highest cumulative GPA in FGCU Athletics’ history. Women’s soccer had the highest team sport cumulative GPA with a 3.52.
The most improved team sport GPA from last spring to this past fall was softball with a term increase of 0.23 — going from 3.17 to 3.40. The most improved individual sport GPA went to men’s cross country with a term jump of 0.38 — going from a 2.83 to a 3.21.
Individually, 33 student-athletes finished with a 4.0 GPA for the semester, representing 13 percent of the entire student-athlete body named to the President’s List with perfect grades for the term. Among the overall population of 252 student-athletes, 113 (45%) made the Dean’s List (3.5+) and 173 (69 percent) landed on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll (3.0+).
“We are 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. 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.”
Embodying success in and out of competitions, four student-athletes were named to their respective ASUN All-Academic teams in the fall: Amanda Carroll (volleyball; Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year), Maggie Rick (volleyball), Ashley Parks (women’s soccer) and Lindsey Patton (women’s soccer).
“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 Student-Athlete Learning Center. “With support from Undergraduate Studies and the Athletics Department, our student-athletes continue to excel in the classroom and set the bar high for future Eagles.”