April 27, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS -  Seven athletics programs at the University of Dayton were honored by the NCAA with public recognition awards for their latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores on Thursday. Five men's sports including basketball, cross country, football, golf and tennis were joined by women's rowing and women's golf on the list.

These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.

Only 28 of the 217 NCAA Division I schools honored had more teams cited than the seven programs Dayton had. Also, of the 35 men's basketball programs that were honored, UD is one of just three from the Atlantic 10 Conference along with Saint Louis and Xavier.

In addition, the Flyer football program was one of 26 teams in the nation to be honored along with fellow Pioneer Football League member Davidson.

Three of the 17 women's rowing squads on the national list came from the Atlantic 10 Conference. Dayton was joined by Fordham and Massachusetts.

The 839 teams nationally receiving awards this year represent 217 Division I colleges and universities, or two-thirds of the 326 institutions that compete in NCAA Division I athletics. High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 975 to a perfect 1,000, said NCAA President Myles Brand.

"These teams prove once again that student-athletes are students first, and many of them are excellent students," Brand said. "I want to personally congratulate these teams and their student-athletes who are working hard in their sport and in the classroom and setting a great example for all students."

Last year, a total of 1,048 teams were recognized. There are fewer awards this year than last year because there are fewer teams with perfect scores. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent depending on how many achieved perfect 1,000 APR scores.

A complete list of the awards by institution can be found at http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/academics_and_athletes/education_and_research/academic_reform/20070418_pub_rec_awards.html www.ncaa.org .

Multi-year APR scores for all 6,110 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced Wednesday (May 2). The announcement also will include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams.