GT Athletics Honored for Academics

Four Georgia Tech teams – men’s and women’s cross country, golf and softball – were recognized by the
NCAA national office Tuesday for producing Academic Progress Rates (APR) ranked in the top 10 percent nationally within their respective sport for the 2009-10 academic year.The NCAA began recognizing all teams ranked in the top 10 percent nationally in APR following the 2004-05 academic year. ACC Coach of the Year Bruce Heppler’s Yellow Jacket golf team has been recognized every year, a remarkable six consecutive seasons.

“What Bruce and our golf program have accomplished – both on and off the course – is exceptional,” Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich said of the Yellow Jackets, who last month won their third
straight ACC championship.

Both the Tech men’s and women’s cross country teams, coached by Alan Drosky, earned national recognition for the second straight year. ACC Coach of the Year Sharon Perkins’ softball team earned its first national APR recognition.

“I am not only proud of what these four teams accomplished, but as I think we will see next Tuesday, we have a number of teams that produced very good numbers,” Radakovich said. “Our coaches, student-athletes and our academic support team deserve credit.”

All data related to the most recent APR scores will be released to the public on Tuesday, May 24. This release will include 2009-10 APR and penalty reports, and aggregate data for all NCAA Division I
institutions. The NCAA will distribute and post online a press release with links to the APR data and penalty reports, and will host a national telephonic press conference at 2 p.m. Eastern that day. In addition, this year’s release will include the head coaches APR Portfolio.