William & Mary student-athletes rank No. 1 among the public universities in Division 1 in the classroom.
According to a recent National Collegiate Athletic Association report, the university tops the list in both perfect multiyear academic progress rates and the NCAA public recognition awards.
Implemented in 2003, the APR calculates the academic progress through a team-based metric based on the academic eligibility and retention of student-athletes for each academic term.
“William & Mary student-athletes shine in competition and in the classroom,” William & Mary President Katherine A. Rowe said in an email. “The Academic Progress Report is only the latest example of their hard-earned national recognition. I am incredibly proud that William & Mary will continue to prepare well-rounded individuals to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
In total, William & Mary garnered 12 public recognition awards, which were the most in the Coastal Athletic Association, the state of Virginia and among all Division 1 public universities, according to a university announcement. The university ranked ninth overall nationally for awards.
“These ranks are a testament to the hard work of our student-athletes and we couldn’t be prouder,” said Brian Mann, W&M’s athletic director. “I could go on at length about our department-wide honors as well as the different individual honors our student-athletes have received.”
Mann cited the recognition of Tara Kerr of the lacrosse team and Alek Kuzmenchuk of men’s gymnastics, who were named Fulbright Scholars, and Lanni Brown of women’s basketball who was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
“I know how much time and effort our student-athletes dedicate to their studies, as well as the countless hours consumed by their individual sports, so it is extremely gratifying to see this tremendous recognition of what they have done so consistently and so well in the classroom,” Mann added.
Public recognition awards go to teams earning APR in the top 10% of all squads in their respective sports. The newly announced winning teams include: women’s basketball, women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s gymnastics, lacrosse, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming, women’s tennis and volleyball.
Each of the programs produced perfect 1,000 multiyear APR scores. While being the top public school in the category, it also ranked No. 8 nationally among all Division 1 schools, also in the CAA and in Virginia.
W&M’s combined APR for 2022-23, the latest available data, was 994.61 for its 21 athletic teams (indoor and outdoor track programs are combined, while its multiyear APR from 2019-20 to 2022-23 was 993.77. The national average multiyear points were 984.
Additionally, Mann said W&M student-athletes had a cumulative grade-point average of 3.4 during the 2024 spring semester. All the team programs posted a GPA of 3.0 or better. Also, 232 of women and men received the W&M Provost Award, which recognizes students who maintain a GPA over 3.5.
For the 18th time in the last 19 years, W&M lead all Division 1 public institutions with an 88% federal graduation rate. Also, the university ranked 10th overall among all Division 1 schools and had the highest graduation rate for student-athletes in the state.
Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com
![If it were not for the efforts of a William & Mary president in the 1960s there would not have been a marine science program to benefit from the school’s recent largest financial gift. Davis Y. Paschall, president 1960-1971, was instrumental in the development of the substantial academic programs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at nearby Gloucester Point on the York River, The Virginia Fisheries Laboratory was established in 1940 as the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory as a joint effort between W&M and the Virginia Commission on Fisheries (now the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. It was initially organized […]](https://www.pilotonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/6SCYSOUXX5GSHC7UWSYZ2RSEAU.jpg?w=408 "If it were not for the efforts of a William & Mary president in the 1960s there would not have been a marine science program to benefit from the school’s recent largest financial gift. Davis Y. Paschall, president 1960-1971, was instrumental in the development of the substantial academic programs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at nearby Gloucester Point on the York River, The Virginia Fisheries Laboratory was established in 1940 as the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory as a joint effort between W&M and the Virginia Commission on Fisheries (now the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. It was initially organized […]")
