NNEW ORLEANS – Seven different Sun Belt Conference institutions have claimed top Team GPA Awards for the 2015-16 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 Golf, Men's Golf, Men's Tennis, Softball and Baseball – earning top GPAs in its respective sports. Arkansas State and Troy each had three squads with the highest GPA while Georgia Southern had two programs with the highest GPA. Little Rock, Hartwick (affiliated men’s soccer member), and South Alabama 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 Georgia Southern’s Women’s Tennis team who posted a 3.82 GPA for the 2015-16 academic year. Troy’s Women’s Cross Country team posted a 3.77 GPA while Georgia State’s Women’s Golf team registered a 3.73 GPA. Nearly seventy-percent of all Sun Belt programs recorded a team GPA over 3.0 during the academic year.
Volleyball laid claim to the highest number of teams posting a 3.0 or greater GPA as all 12 league members hit that mark. Women’s Soccer, Women’s Tennis and Women’s Cross Country each had 11 league members with a 3.0 or greater GPA. In addition, four sports saw all of its teams post 3.0 or greater team GPAs during the academic year as Women’s Soccer, Women’s Golf, Women’s Tennis and Volleyball 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 |
Troy |
3.77 |
| Men’s Cross Country |
Arkansas State |
3.37 |
| Women’s Soccer |
Little Rock |
3.62 |
| Men’s Soccer |
Hartwick |
3.50 |
| Volleyball |
Arkansas State |
3.56 |
| Football |
Arkansas State |
2.82 |
| Women’s Basketball |
Georgia Southern |
3.23 |
| Men’s Basketball |
Troy |
2.93 |
| Women’s Golf |
Georgia State |
3.73 |
| Men’s Golf |
Georgia State |
3.52 |
| Women’s Tennis |
Georgia Southern |
3.82 |
| Men’s Tennis |
Georgia State |
3.57 |
| Women’s Track & Field |
Troy |
3.34 |
| Men’s Track & Field |
South Alabama |
3.08 |
| Softball |
Georgia State |
3.57 |
| Baseball |
Georgia State |
3.27 |