Grace Squads Honored For Academics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the second consecutive year, all 14 varsity teams for Grace College were named Scholar-Teams by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
Women’s soccer headlined Grace’s efforts by winning an academic national championship with a team GPA of 3.74, which ranked first in their sport and seventh overall across the nation.
The Lady Lancers’ soccer team, under head coach Michael Voss, has topped all NAIA women’s soccer teams academically in each of the past two years.
Overall Grace placed three teams in the top 100 teams nationally. Six of Grace’s squads finished in the top 15 of their respective sports.
“The continued academic excellence that our athletic programs achieve is a testament to the commitment and dedication of our coaches and student-athletes,” said Grace athletic director Chad Briscoe. “These prestigious awards are a great reflection of the pursuit of academic and athletic Christian excellence that our programs strive for at Grace. The academic recognition of all of our programs is a great reflection on Grace College and Grace Athletics.”
The women’s basketball team, coached by Scott Blum, posted a 3.56 GPA to rank third in their sport and 68th overall.
Grace’s women’s tennis team also finished in the top 100 overall with a 3.52 GPA (No. 14 in their sport).
The Lancers’ basketball team, fresh off a run to the NAIA national semifinals, ranked No. 8 in their sport with a 3.17 GPA under head coach Jim Kessler.
Men’s soccer, led by head coach Matt Hotchkin, finished No. 10 across all men’s soccer teams with a 3.23 team GPA.
Women’s cross country, coached by Jeff Raymond, and volleyball, under Andria Harshman, posted impressive 3.44 GPA’s.
Other Scholar-Teams for Grace include: women’s track and field (3.29 GPA), men’s track and field (3.19 GPA), softball (3.13 GPA), men’s golf (3.12 GPA), men’s tennis (3.05 GPA), baseball (3.02 GPA) and men’s cross country (3.00 GPA).
To achieve Scholar-Team status, a team must have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) as defined by the institution. The team GPA includes all varsity student-athletes certified as eligible.
To view the complete release, including a list of all Scholar-Teams sorted by GPA and by school, click here.
The NAIA is the governing body for athletics programs at its nearly 300 colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada.