NEW ORLEANS – Nine different Sun Belt Conference institutions claimed top Team GPA Awards for the 2016-17 academic year, announced today by the league office.
The awards, released at the conclusion of the academic year, honor the teams with the top cumulative team grade point average in each of the sponsored sports within the Sun Belt. For award purposes, Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field are counted as a single sport.
Georgia State led all schools with five of its teams – women’s cross country, women’s soccer, men’s soccer, volleyball and men’s golf – earning top GPAs in its respective sports. Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern and Troy each had two squads with the highest GPA. Appalachian State, Idaho (football affiliate), Little Rock, South Alabama and Texas State each had one team with the highest GPA on the list.
All told, 122 programs on the list registered a GPA of at least 3.0; with the overall highest team GPA coming from Georgia State’s women’s cross country team which posted a 3.86 GPA for the 2016-17 academic year. The Panthers’ men’s golf team posted a 3.85 GPA while Coastal Carolina’s women’s tennis team registered a 3.83 GPA. Over seventy-percent of all Sun Belt programs recorded a team GPA over 3.0 during the academic year.
Women’s soccer and women’s tennis laid claim to the highest number of teams posting a 3.0 or greater GPA as all 11 sponsored members hit that mark. A total of four sports saw all of its teams post 3.0 or greater team GPAs during the academic year as women’s soccer, men’ tennis, women’s tennis and softball all posted GPAs 3.0 or greater.
Listed below are the winners of each Team GPA Award by sport, with the team cumulative GPA also listed next to each winning team.
|
SPORT
|
TEAM
|
GPA
|
|
Women’s Cross Country
|
Georgia State
|
3.86
|
|
Men’s Cross Country
|
Troy
|
3.37
|
|
Women’s Soccer
|
Georgia State
|
3.59
|
|
Men’s Soccer
|
Georgia State
|
3.36
|
|
Volleyball
|
Georgia State
|
3.50
|
|
Football
|
Idaho
|
2.99
|
|
Women’s Basketball
|
Georgia Southern
|
3.28
|
|
Men’s Basketball
|
Texas State
|
3.04
|
|
Women’s Golf
|
Coastal Carolina
|
3.82
|
|
Men’s Golf
|
Georgia State
|
3.85
|
|
Women’s Tennis
|
Coastal Carolina
|
3.83
|
|
Men’s Tennis
|
Georgia Southern
|
3.51
|
|
Women’s Track & Field
|
Appalachian State
|
3.35
|
|
Men’s Track & Field
|
South Alabama
|
3.22
|
|
Softball
|
Troy
|
3.56
|
|
Baseball
|
Little Rock
|
3.31
|