INDIANAPOLIS – Seven University of Dayton athletic programs were honored today when the NCAA recognized teams that have earned multi-year Academic Progress Rates in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport. The Dayton teams honored for the 2018-19 academic year were: women's cross country, football, women's golf, rowing, softball, men's tennis and women's tennis. 

The 1,380 teams publicly recognized for high achievement include 881 women's teams and 499 men's or mixed squads.  The total number of teams being recognized increased by 52 from a year ago, largely as a result of an increase in perfect scores. 

Ten Flyer teams have received the APR Recognition Award at least five times in the 15 years of the honors program. They are men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, rowing, and men's and women's tennis.

The Dayton women's golf program has received the APR recognition award for 15 consecutive years – every time since the APR was instituted.  It is one of just 62 teams across all of Division I to earn APR recognition all 15 years.

Women's golf programs to earn the honor for 15 consecutive years are from Boston U., Bucknell, Butler, Dayton, Illinois, Northwestern, Penn and Princeton.  

UD's football and men's golf programs have been recognized in 14 of the 15 years.

Dayton is one of just 15 institutions to have at least three teams earn APR recognition in each of the 15 years.  The other schools are Brown, Bucknell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Duke, Harvard, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Penn, Princeton and Yale.

UD is one of three schools in the Atlantic 10 Conference to have at least seven of their teams earn an APR Recognition Award this year.

Football is one  of two teams in the Pioneer Football League to earn recognition. 

"We're proud that our teams continue to earn APR recognition from the NCAA," UD Vice-President and Director of Athletics Neil Sullivan said.  "The fact that we have had so many teams consistently honored over the years is a direct result of the commitment to academics by our coaches, our academic support team and our student-athletes themselves."

Each year, the NCAA honors select Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (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 by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports

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. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years.

Multi-year APRs for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition, will be announced May 19.