Murray State University Athletics
Racers Net Record Six APR Public Recognition Awards
5/2/2019 5:05:00 PM | Baseball, General, Men's Cross Country, Men's Golf, Softball, Women's Tennis, Rifle
A department-record six Murray State athletic teams have received NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Awards for the 2017-18 academic year, the governing body announced Wednesday. The Racer baseball, men's cross country, rifle, softball, men's golf and women's tennis teams all earned the prestigious honor.
"Murray State University is committed to developing young people as students, persons and players," said Director of Athletic Kevin Saal. "APR success and recognition speaks to the commitment of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, their dedication to our athletics program and 'The Racer Way'".
The six awards earned by the Racers for 2017-18 was the second most in the OVC, behind Belmont's nine and is also the most of any Division I school in the commonwealth, tying with Kentucky.
The APR is a term-by-term measure of eligibility and retention for Division I student-athletes that was developed as an early indicator of eventual graduation rates. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
The APR awards two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time, divided by the total points possible and multiplied by 1,000. It is based off of a four-year sample with this year's calculation coming from 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. High-performing teams, those in the top 10 percent of their respective sport, receive public recognition awards by posting APR scores ranging from 978 to a perfect 1,000.
At least one Racer team has now earned the award in eight of the last nine years and in 10 of the 14 since the recognition program began. Both women's tennis and men's golf earned their third consecutive award this year, with men's golf now leading all Racer programs with six total. The awards were the second all-time for rifle and softball, who has now won in back-to-back seasons, and the first ever for baseball and men's cross country.
In addition, the Racer softball program was the only program in the Commonwealth to earn the award for 2017-18, while the baseball team was one of only two, along with Northern Kentucky. The MSU rifle team also stood out among its peers, being one of just four schools to earn the honor out of the 30 total that sponsor the sport.
Conference-wide a league-record 36 teams from 11 different institutions were honored this year, while the Murray State softball and baseball teams were the only ones in their respective sport to be honored league-wide.
In total, 1,328 teams representing 321 of 347 Division I colleges and universities, had at least one team earn an APR award, up 44 from last year. In addition, 1,214 teams earned a perfect score of 1,000, which is up 26 from a year ago. Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia and Holy Cross led the nation with 18 APR public recognition awards, while Villanova had the greatest percentage of its teams earn the award at 77-percent.
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"Murray State University is committed to developing young people as students, persons and players," said Director of Athletic Kevin Saal. "APR success and recognition speaks to the commitment of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, their dedication to our athletics program and 'The Racer Way'".
The six awards earned by the Racers for 2017-18 was the second most in the OVC, behind Belmont's nine and is also the most of any Division I school in the commonwealth, tying with Kentucky.
The APR is a term-by-term measure of eligibility and retention for Division I student-athletes that was developed as an early indicator of eventual graduation rates. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
The APR awards two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time, divided by the total points possible and multiplied by 1,000. It is based off of a four-year sample with this year's calculation coming from 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. High-performing teams, those in the top 10 percent of their respective sport, receive public recognition awards by posting APR scores ranging from 978 to a perfect 1,000.
At least one Racer team has now earned the award in eight of the last nine years and in 10 of the 14 since the recognition program began. Both women's tennis and men's golf earned their third consecutive award this year, with men's golf now leading all Racer programs with six total. The awards were the second all-time for rifle and softball, who has now won in back-to-back seasons, and the first ever for baseball and men's cross country.
In addition, the Racer softball program was the only program in the Commonwealth to earn the award for 2017-18, while the baseball team was one of only two, along with Northern Kentucky. The MSU rifle team also stood out among its peers, being one of just four schools to earn the honor out of the 30 total that sponsor the sport.
Conference-wide a league-record 36 teams from 11 different institutions were honored this year, while the Murray State softball and baseball teams were the only ones in their respective sport to be honored league-wide.
In total, 1,328 teams representing 321 of 347 Division I colleges and universities, had at least one team earn an APR award, up 44 from last year. In addition, 1,214 teams earned a perfect score of 1,000, which is up 26 from a year ago. Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia and Holy Cross led the nation with 18 APR public recognition awards, while Villanova had the greatest percentage of its teams earn the award at 77-percent.
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