Tuesday, Jul 23, 2013
Across the board, Rider’s student-athletes recorded their best-ever collective grade point average this spring.
by Rider Sports Information
The student-athletes of Rider University compiled a grade point average of 3.18 during the spring 2013 semester, their most successful showing in the 20 years this information has been available.
“Our student-athletes continue to achieve at a high level in the classroom, and they should be commended for performing so well academically this past semester,” said Greg Busch, Rider’s Associate Athletic Director for Compliance and Internal Operations.
Fifteen of Rider’s 20 varsity teams, including nine of the 10 women’s teams, earned team GPAs of 3.0 or better.
Every member of the volleyball team had a GPA better than 3.0 and over 20 percent of the women’s soccer team had a 4.0.
Women’s soccer had 14 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic players and a pair of Academic All-Americans.
The men’s basketball team recorded its highest GPA in nine semesters.
Field hockey had 11 players honored by the Northeast Conference this year for grade point averages over 3.20 and 10 of those players earned NFHCA National Academic recognition for GPAs in excess of 3.30.
Men’s soccer and baseball earned their highest GPAs in five years, as did men’s and women’s cross country. The men’s soccer team had eight All-Academic players, while baseball had 10. Men’s and women’s cross country combined for 18.
The men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams had 15 All-Academic performers with both teams receiving CSCAA awards.
The men’s and women’s track & field teams had 28 All-Academic performers.
Women’s basketball was over 3.0 as a team for the second time in the last three semesters, while softball maintained its streak of 10 semesters above a 3.0.
Men’s tennis enjoyed its seventh straight semester above 3.0.
The wrestling team also placed member on the National All-Academic team.
“The results for the spring 2013 semester were very strong for both the women’s and the men’s teams,” said Dr. Kelly Bidle, a professor of Biology and Neurosciences, Rider’s NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative. “The performance of our student-athletes was yet another strong example of the Department of Athletics’ commitment to student success, both in the classroom and on the playing field. Our student-athletes are strongly representative of our overall student population and consistently perform equally well, if not better, as our full-time, day-student population on the Lawrenceville campus.”