The women's tennis team and the men's and women's golf teams were named recipients
of the NCAA's Public Recognition Award this week by NCAA President Mark Emmert.
Also, the 2016 Winthrop baseball team was voted by the conference's student-athletes
as the Big South Conference Sportsmanship Award winner in baseball.
ROCK HILL SOUTH CAROLINA - Three Winthrop athletic teams have been recognized by the
NCAA for ranking in the top 10 percentile of the Division I Academic Progress Rate for the 2014-15 academic year.
And a fourth team was voted recently as the Big South Conference Sportsmanship Award winner.
The women's tennis team and the men's and women's golf teams were named recipients
of the NCAA's Public Recognition Award this week by NCAA President Mark Emmert.
The three Winthrop squads are among 21 Big South Conference teams and 1,071 Division
I squads that received the recognition. The honor is bestowed upon teams with an NCAA
Division I Academic Progress Rate in the top 10 percentile of all squads in their
respective sports for the academic year.
"I couldn't be more proud of our team coaches (Jodi Wendt, Kevin Pendley '98, and Cid Carvalho '82, '89) for this recognition. This recognition demonstrates their commitment to the excellence
of our student-athletes in the classroom as well as in competition," said Winthrop Director of Athletics Ken Halpin.
Following its implementation in 2003 as part of the academic reform, the NCAA tracks
the classroom performance of student-athletes on every Division I team through the annual scorecard of academic
achievement, known as APR. The score honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly
recognizing their latest multiyear APR (the most recent APRs are based on scores from
the 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years).
To earn the award, the team is required to score in the top 10 percentile of their
sport or between a 983 to a perfect 1,000. Nine hundred and forty-four teams earned
a perfect APR score. A total of 290 schools placed at least one team on the top APR
list.
The women's golf team, coached by Wendt, and Carvalho's women's tennis squad made the cut for the second time, while Pendley's golf team is a first-time recipient.The total number of Winthrop teams that have received the
Public Recognition Award since 2006 is nine.
Meanwhile, the 2016 Winthrop baseball team was voted by the conference's student-athletes as the Big South Conference Sportsmanship
Award winner in baseball.
"The Big South Conference sportsmanship award is a great honor and is an indicator
that our student- athletes always represent Winthrop University, the Athletic Department
and our baseball program in a first-class manner, both on and off the fields. This
award is evidence that we are respected by the other teams in our conference who recognized
the outstanding character of our young men," said Winthrop Coach Tom Riginos.
The team awards were voted on by Big South student-athletes following each conference
championship, and are based on sportsmanship and fair play.
For more information, contact Jack Frost of Winthrop Athletics at frostj@winthrop.edu.
