NEW ORLEANS – Ten different Sun Belt Conference institutions claimed top Team GPA Awards for the 2017-18 academic year, the league office announced on Wednesday.
The awards honor the teams with the top cumulative team grade point average in each of the sponsored sports within the Sun Belt from the 2017-18 academic year. For award purposes, Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field are counted as a single sport.
Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina led all schools with three teams apiece earning top GPAs in its respective sports. Georgia State and Little Rock each had two squads with the highest GPA. Howard (men’s soccer affiliate), Louisiana, ULM, South Alabama, Texas State and Troy each had one team with the highest GPA on the list.
All told, 119 programs on the list registered a GPA of at least 3.0; with the overall highest team GPA coming from Coastal Carolina’s women’s tennis team, which posted a 3.88 GPA for the 2017-18 academic year. The Arkansas State’s women’s golf team posted a 3.87 GPA while Louisiana’s women’s cross country team registered a 3.78 GPA. More than 70-percent of all Sun Belt programs recorded a team GPA over 3.0 during the academic year.
A total of five sports saw all of its teams post 3.0 or greater team GPAs during the academic year as women’s cross country, women’s soccer, women’s golf, women’s tennis and softball all posted GPAs 3.0 or greater.
Coastal Carolina had the most teams with GPAs over 3.0 for the academic year with 14. South Alabama had 12 and Appalachian State had nine. Every Sun Belt institution saw more than 50-percent of its respective sports teams with a team GPA over 3.0.
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 |
Institution |
GPA |
| Women’s Cross Country |
Louisiana |
3.78 |
| Men’s Cross Country |
Coastal Carolina |
3.51 |
| Women’s Soccer |
Little Rock |
3.71 |
| Men’s Soccer |
Howard |
3.3 |
| Volleyball |
Arkansas State |
3.65 |
| Football |
Arkansas State |
2.90 |
| Women’s Basketball |
Texas State |
3.18 |
| Men’s Basketball |
ULM |
2.97 |
| Women’s Golf |
Arkansas State |
3.87 |
| Men’s Golf |
Georgia State |
3.53 |
| Women’s Tennis |
Coastal Carolina |
3.88 |
| Men’s Tennis |
Coastal Carolina |
3.47 |
| Women’s Track & Field |
Georgia State |
3.47 |
| Men’s Track & Field |
South Alabama |
3.27 |
| Softball |
Troy |
3.57 |
| Baseball |
Little Rock |
3.21 |