May 12, 2010

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. - The Siena men's tennis, women's tennis and women's golf programs have been honored by the NCAA for posting multiyear Academic Progress Rates (APR) in the top 10 percent of all teams in their respective sports. They were among 841 teams from a total of 228 Division I colleges and universities.

This marks the second straight year in which these same three Siena athletic programs have been recognized by the NCAA with this honor. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.

High-performing teams receiving public recognition awards this year posted APR scores ranging from 978 to a perfect 1,000, said NCAA Interim President Jim Isch. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent depending on how many achieved perfect scores. As APR scores improve, the threshold for teams to earn a place in the top 10 percent in their sport continues to rise.

"Most Division I student-athletes and teams take seriously their dual responsibilities in the classroom and on the court or field of play, but every year there is a special category of teams that perform exceptionally well and deserve this noteworthy recognition," Isch said.

The 841 teams publicly recognized this year for high achievement represent 13.4 percent of the 6,297 eligible Division I teams. The list includes 492 women's teams and 349 men's or mixed squads.

A total of 228 institutions, out of 331 Division I colleges and universities, placed at least one team on the top APR list. Another six schools that offer athletics in more than one division, out of 50 overall within the NCAA, placed Division I teams on the list as well.

For the fourth consecutive year, Yale University had the most teams (24) recognized, followed by Dartmouth College (22) and the University of Pennsylvania (20). By conference, the Ivy Group had the most number of teams honored (135), followed by the Patriot League (90) and the Big East Conference (70).

Last year, a total of 767 teams were recognized.

In the five years of the NCAA's academic reform program, 1,747 different teams have received Public Recognition Awards, representing 27.7 percent of eligible sports teams during that time. Of that total, 319 teams have received Public Recognition Awards each of the five years of the program.