INDIANAPOLIS – Three Missouri State University athletic teams have received special public recognition from the NCAA for excellence in its multi-year Academic Progress Report (APR) for the three-year period ending in 2018-19, the NCAA announced Tuesday (May 12).
MSU’s softball, women’s soccer, and women’s tennis programs have all reached APR public recognition status by accumulating multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all teams at the Division I level.
Softball and tennis have now received NCAA public recognition awards four straight years. Previously, Missouri State had received public recognition awards from the NCAA for the following sports: men’s golf in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18; men’s soccer in 2014-15; men’s swimming and diving in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18; volleyball in 2005-06, 2008-09, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18; and men’s tennis in 2004-05.
Each year, the NCAA honors selected NCAA Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multi-year NCAA Division I APR. This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes.
“Academic success is a cornerstone of what Missouri State University embodies and what all of our programs strive to achieve,” said Director of Athletics Kyle Moats. “We congratulate our softball, tennis and women’s soccer teams as being pillars of excellence.”
The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team’s academic performance.
A total of 1,380 Division I teams — up by 52 from the previous academic year – earned public recognition awards this year. Of the teams recognized, 499 competed in men’s or mixed sports, and 881 competed in women’s sports. APRs for programs in the top 10 percent ranged from 987 to a perfect 1,000, and every women’s team on this year’s public recognition list earned a perfect score (1,000).
The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2015-16 through 2018-19 academic years. All Division I teams’ APR scores are set to be announced by the NCAA on May 19.
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