Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Ranks 3rd Nationally with 17 Teams Receiving NCAA APR Awards
4/13/2016 4:32:00 PM | General
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The NCAA on Wednesday announced the latest round of Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Awards, and 17 of Bucknell's 27 varsity athletics programs were honored. That is the third-highest total in the nation, trailing only Brown and Dartmouth with 21 and 19, respectively. Stanford joined Bucknell with 17 honored teams, followed by Notre Dame and Lafayette with 16 each and Duke with 15.
Bucknell has ranked among the national leaders in Public Recognition Awards in all 11 years since the NCAA began honoring the programs that fall in the top 10 percent in APR scores within their respective sports.
According to the NCAA, the APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport. High-performing teams receiving awards this year posted APR scores ranging from 983 to a perfect 1,000.
Specific multi-year APR scores for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving Public Recognition Awards, will be announced on Apr. 20.
Bucknell has earned at least 16 Public Recognition Awards every year so far. The previous high was 21, set in 2014. Bison programs honored this year are: baseball, men's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's golf, men's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, volleyball and men's and women's water polo. (Note that for the first time this year, indoor and outdoor track and field was combined into one team, which slightly reduces the number of teams eligible for Public Recognition Awards.)
There are 110 programs in the entire country that have earned an APR Public Recognition Award in each of the 11 years since the program was initiated. Five of those 110 are Bucknell teams, including men's cross country, women's tennis, women's golf, women's soccer and women's track and field.
This year a total of 1,071 Division I programs received Public Recognition Awards, including 649 women's teams and 422 men's or mixed squads. A total of 290 institutions placed at least one team on the top APR list.
As a conference, the Patriot League received a total of 94 Public Recognition Awards this year. That is the second-highest total in the nation, behind only the Ivy League with 100. The Atlantic Coast Conference was third with 81.
This recognition represents a continuation of widespread national acknowledgement of Bucknell's scholar-athlete success. Bucknell annually ranks among the national leaders in graduation rates – including a No. 2 national ranking in each of the last two NCAA surveys and a No. 1 ranking in 2103 -- and the Bison remain among the national leaders in total number of Academic All-Americans.
Under the APR system, a student-athlete can be awarded two points per semester -- one for remaining academically eligible throughout the semester and another for being retained for the next term. Team percentages are then calculated to determine its APR. The upcoming APR report will represent a four-year average based on institutional reporting for the 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years. Teams that do not meet a baseline score of 925 could face sanctions such as loss of scholarships and/or ineligibility for postseason play.
Bucknell is a highly-selective, privately endowed liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 3,600 undergraduate students. Bucknell competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Patriot League and has full membership along with American, Army West Point, Boston University, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola Maryland and Navy. Bucknell has won the Presidents' Cup, signifying the Patriot League's all-sports champion, in 18 of 25 years.
