Longwood’s 200 student-athletes delivered in the classroom as well as on the playing field during the fall 2017 semester, with their highest overall grade-point average in a decade—3.05 — and more than a third of the group earning a place on the President’s List or Dean’s List.
This achievement continued the academic momentum of the 2016-17 academic year when Lancer student-athletes posted a combined GPA of 3.01. The Lancers’ outstanding academic effort came alongside success on the field, most notably by the women’s soccer team, which reached the Big South Championship game, and the field hockey program, which posted its highest winning percentage of the Division I era and made it to the Mid-American Conference semifinals.
“This trend—and fall 2017 is just the latest example—is a testament to a department-wide commitment to emphasizing balance for our student-athletes,” said Longwood Director of Athletics Troy Austin. “Our coaches have done a fantastic job recruiting student-athletes who can succeed academically and athletically at Longwood, and our student-athlete support staff has been paramount in helping them reach their potential.”
Many of Longwood’s 14 varsity athletics programs can claim a piece of the success, from the baseball team (the largest with 34 players), which broke the 3.00 mark to record their highest fall GPA since 2010, to women’s basketball, which had its best academic semester since 2011. A total of 76 student-athletes were named to the President’s List or the Dean’s List.
“When you consider the overwhelming amount of responsibilities the typical student-athlete faces, it’s an achievement to just play a sport in college let alone succeed at the level our student-athletes did in the fall,” Austin said.
“I would especially like to recognize the members of our Student-Athlete Enhancement unit for the work they’ve done and their holistic approach to helping our student-athletes succeed. We have seen that academics, athletics and the general mental and physical well-being of student-athletes are all linked, and these accolades bear that out.”
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