BLACKSBURG – In continuing a recent trend, Virginia Tech's athletics teams once again recorded strong academic numbers in the NCAA's latest Academic Progress Rate report, as released by the NCAA on Tuesday afternoon.
The APR is a scorecard that tracks classroom performance of Division I sports teams, and it takes into account eligibility and retention of student-athletes over a four-year period. It measures eligibility, graduation and retention each semester or quarter and provides a clear picture of the academic performance for each team in each sport. Teams must meet a certain academic threshold to qualify for the postseason, and programs also can face penalties for continued low academic performance. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on annual scores from the 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years.
The Tech women's golf, women's tennis, women's track and field, and men's tennis teams all recorded perfect multi-year APRs of 1,000, which ranked either first or tied first in the ACC. The women's tennis and women's golf programs achieved a perfect score for the fourth consecutive year, while the women's track program achieved that perfect mark for the third straight year.
A week ago, each of these four programs received an NCAA Public Recognition Awards, which goes to sport programs that finished with APR scores in the top 10 of their respective sports.
In all, 10 Tech sport programs finished with a 990 multi-year score or better out of 1,000. The group includes the four previously stated teams, along with the sports of women's soccer (997), women's swimming and diving (996), men's swimming and diving, women's cross country (995), men's cross country (993), and men's track and field (992).
"Our Student-Athlete Academic Support Services (SAASS) team is proud of the hard work and effort that our student-athletes put in every day toward their academics, and the latest scores in the APR report are a reflection of that work," said Sarah Armstrong, director of SAASS. "We are also very appreciative of the continued support from each coaching staff and from our tutors, as they all play a critical role in the lives and academic successes of our student-athletes. We look forward to continuing our trend of academic excellence."
The men's swimming and diving program recorded its highest APR ever and ranked tied for second among all ACC schools – and first among public institutions in the league. The women's soccer program registered a 997 for the fourth straight year and ranked tied for fifth in the ACC. The women's cross country program was third in the ACC, while the men's cross country program finished above 990 for the third consecutive year.
Tech's football program achieved a score of 958, which marked a five-point increase from last year's score. The football program has been above the 950 threshold for the past decade.
In men's basketball, the program achieved a score of 980 – a 10-point increase from last year's score and the third-highest score in program history. Tech's score ranked fourth in the ACC.
In women's basketball, the program had a score of 947 – a 12-point increase from last year's score.
For more information on the APR, please check the NCAA website at www.ncaa.org.
