The University of New Mexico athletics department can boast plenty of great achievements for the 2011-12 season including 10 conference championships, four Academic All-Americans, 11 conference Players of the Year, five conference Coaches of the Year, and 15 of 21 sports advancing to NCAA postseason play. UNM can also still finish in the top-50 in the Learfield Sports Director’s Cup and could tally a potential school record point total in the Learfield Cup.
Now, UNM can add the proverbial academic feather to its cap, as the student-athletes at UNM have set a school record with a cumulative grade point average of 3.21 for the spring semester, following a 3.13 accrued in the fall. In addition, six programs: men’s skiing, men’s tennis, women’s soccer, softball, women’s swimming & diving, and women’s track & field/cross country all set a program record for semester GPA for either the fall or the spring.
The 3.21 cumulative grade point average for the 2012 spring semester bettered the previous record of 3.15, set in the spring of 2010. Men’s skiing led the way with a 3.77 grade point average in the spring semester, which set a program single semester GPA record, and it tied the university record with women’s skiing, which had a 3.77 in the fall of 2009.
Along with the school record 3.47 cumulative GPA for the department, each gender set a record as well. On the women’s side, the Lobo female student-athletes had a 3.47 grade point average this spring, which bettered the 3.45 in the fall of 2010. It marked the fourth straight semester that UNM’s female student-athletes have garnered a cumulative GPA of 3.40 or better, and it’s the 10th straight semester of a 3.30 or better. UNM’s female student-athletes have now had a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better for 28 straight semesters.
On the men’s side, the student-athletes earned a school record 3.01 for the spring semester, the first time in school history over a 3.0. The previous best was a 2.98 in the spring of 2010.
“I’m extremely proud of the hard work and the dedication that our student-athletes have to their academic pursuits,” said Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs. “To have the successes that we have had on the field, and to match those with the successes in the classroom speaks to the types of people our coaches are recruiting. It also showcases the hard work of Asst. A.D. for Academics Henry Villegas and his staff and the support we receive from around the University.”
Villegas feels that UNM’s student-athletes have the commitment to succeed, on the playing field and in the classroom.
“I think this is a tribute to our student-athletes and the tremendous amount of time and commitment they dedicate to their studies while balancing all that is expected of them as Division I student-athletes,” said Villegas.
“These students have responded well to the challenge by their coaches and advisors to be the best students they can be in addition to excelling on the fields of competition. I cannot say enough about our dedicated advisement staff in the Lobo Center for Student-Athlete Success, they go above and beyond their duties at every opportunity to support our student-athletes,” he added.
The University of New Mexico Academic Success Center was constructed in 2007, and it houses the academic support staff for Lobo Athletics. Along with offices for academic advisors and tutors, there are two complete computer labs, work stations, meeting rooms, and classrooms available for student-athletes to have the best resources available to them.
Academic GPA Highlights per sport:
• Baseball: Had a 3.06 grade point average for the fall semester, its best since fall, 2008. It also improved 0.61 from a year ago, the departments’ best one-year improvement.
• Men’s Basketball: Ran its string of consecutive semesters with at least a 2.70 GPA to nine after a 2.72 in the spring.
• Football: Had a 2.66 grade point average in Bob Davie’s first full semester, the fourth-best improvement from fall to spring, and a .42 improvement from fall of 2010.
• Men’s Golf: Ran its string of consecutive semesters with at least a 3.30 GPA to seven after a 3.39 in the spring. The team now has 10 straight semesters with at least a 3.0 GPA.
• Men’s Skiing: Tied a school record with a 3.77. The squad has 41 straight semesters of at least a 3.0 GPA.
• Men’s Soccer: Had a 3.33 GPA in the spring, the best semester GPA in 13 semesters, since the spring of 2005 (3.35)
• Men’s Tennis: Set a program record with a 3.67 grade point average, topping the 3.52 from the spring of 2003.
• Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country: Had a 3.14 spring GPA, the fifth time in six semesters with a GPA of 3.0 or better.
• Women’s Basketball: Had a 3.43 spring GPA, the 22nd straight semester with at least a 3.0 GPA or better.
• Women’s Golf: Had a 3.59 spring GPA, the sixth time in seven semesters with at least a 3.5 GPA, and the 21st straight semester with at least a 3.0 GPA.
• Women’s Skiing: Had a 3.66 spring GPA, the 10th straight semester with at least a 3.5 GPA. The program has had 42 straight semesters with at least a 3.0 GPA.
• Women’s Soccer: Set a program record with a 3.59 GPA in the spring semester. The women’s soccer team has had 38 semesters of a 3.0 GPA or better, every semester of the programs’ existence.
• Softball: Set a program record with a 3.36 GPA in the spring semester. The program has had 12 straight semesters with at least a 3.0 GPA.
• Women’s Swimming & Diving: Set a program record with a 3.50 spring semester GPA. The program has 35 straight semesters with at least a 3.0 GPA, and 13 straight with at least a 3.25 GPA.
• Women’s Tennis: Had a 3.47 fall GPA and a 3.43 spring GPA, 12 straight semesters with at least a 3.40 GPA, and 40 in a row with at least a 3.0 GPA.
• Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country: Set a program record with a 3.48 fall GPA and nearly tied it with a 3.47 spring GPA. The program has 16 straight semesters of a 3.0 or better.
• Women’s Volleyball: Had a 3.12 GPA in the spring, giving it 19 semesters of a GPA of at least 3.0 in the last 20.
Media contact: Frank Mercogliano, (505) 925‑5520; email: fmercog@unm.edu
