The most recent academic achievements of Arizona student-athletes is reflected in the latest Academic Progress Report (APR) released by the NCAA. The APR data, which is based off the 2018-19 academic year, saw Arizona match its all-time record of perfect single-year scores with 10 programs posting marks of 1,000.
“The sustained academic excellence of our student-athletes highlights our athletics department’s continued commitment to living the Wildcat Way,” said Vice President and Director of Athletics Dave Heeke. “Our mission is to educate, develop and graduate our student-athletes into athletic, academic and life champions, and the work of our Wildcat student-athletes in the classroom continues to shine. I want to congratulate all of our student-athletes on this outstanding accomplishment as well as our tremendous C.A.T.S. Academics staff whose hard work has been instrumental in our unprecedented academic success.”
Arizona’s Men’s Cross Country, Men’s Tennis, Women’s Basketball, Women’s Cross Country, Women’s Golf, Softball, Soccer, Beach Volleyball, Women’s Tennis and Volleyball programs all posted perfect APR scores for 2018-19. In addition to those 10 programs with 1,000 APR marks, Men’s Cross Country and Track and Field teams earned NCAA Public Recognition Awards for ranking in the top 10 percent nationally.
Six different programs posted all-time high multiyear APR scores, including Women’s Basketball, Football, Soccer, Men’s Tennis, Men’s Cross Country and Beach Volleyball. With a mark of 980, Men’s Basketball’s multiyear score is a five-year high for the program.
The NCAA Implemented this data set in 2003 as part of an ambitious academic reform effort in Division I. The Academic Progress Rate (APR) holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for each academic term.
Arizona Athletics’ strong showing in the APR data is the continuation of its record-breaking academic success. The department entered this spring with four consecutive semesters of 3.0 GPA or greater for the first time ever. Fall 2019 also pushed the overall cumulative GPA to an all-time high of 3.115 while setting a new fall semester record with 306 student-athletes earning a 3.0 GPA or greater. Arizona went on to match its all-time high score of 86 percent in the most recent Graduate Success Rate (GSR) data, released by the NCAA in October.