LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock's continued commitment to success both in competition and in the classroom was evident once again during the spring 2019 semester as Trojan student-athletes combined for a department-wide 3.34 cumulative grade point average across its 15 intercollegiate athletic programs.
As a department, the Trojans' semester GPA was a 3.237, giving Little Rock its 14th-straight semester above a 3.00 as a department. The cumulative 3.34 GPA among the Trojans' nearly 200 student-athletes is just shy of the all-time department record of 3.36, set after the fall 2018 semester.
"I first want to congratulate our young people for their impressive success in the classroom again this spring," said Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics
Chasse Conque. "Our coaches continue to recruit dedicated student-athletes to Little Rock and provide the needed support throughout their academic endeavors. I also want to commend the leadership of Senior Woman Administrator
Molly Castner and her academic support team for their hard work in our quest to Graduate Champions."
10 of Little Rock's programs posted a team GPA of 3.00 or higher during the spring semester, including six of which that did so during their competition seasons. Additionally, 35 Trojan student-athletes registered a perfect 4.00 GPA during the spring term.
The highest GPA of the spring semester came from soccer, which recorded a 3.777 GPA, which included seven perfect 4.00 marks. Head coach
Mark Foster's team was followed closely behind by women's golf, which notched a 3.726 GPA during its competition season as six of the seven Trojan golfers finished the semester with 4.00 GPAs.
Swimming and diving ended the spring term with a 3.676 team grade point average, doing so during its championship season. Head coach
Amy Burgess had 10 student-athletes finish with an unblemished report card, the most of any Little Rock program.
Wrestling had a strong showing as well with a team GPA of 3.338, finishing just ahead of baseball's 3.251 team grade point average during its competition season. Men's golf once again ranked among the programs above a 3.00, notching a 3.179 as it was busy in competition, led by Justin Warren's 4.00 GPA en route to being named an All-Sun Belt first team selection.
Volleyball (3.114) and women's track and field/cross country (3.034) round out the Little Rock programs that finished above a 3.00 with a combined five Trojans posting a 4.00 GPA. Additionally, women's basketball had a pair of 4.00 student-athletes in the spring, including Sun Belt Co-Player of the Year Ronjanae DeGray.
The academic accolades continued to pile up for Little Rock as Riley Pittman (baseball) was named a second team CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-American while he and Hunter Paul (track and field/cross country) were both named CoSIDA Google Cloud first team Academic All-District selections. Additionally, DeGray was named to the Division I-AAA Athletic Director's Scholar-Athlete team while swimming and diving had 15 student-athletes named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team for 2019.
Little Rock Athletics Spring 2019 4.00 Student-Athletes
Baseball: Kale Emshoff, Alex Langford
Women's Basketball: Ronjanae DeGray, Kiara Scott
Men's Golf: Justin Warren
Women's Golf: Malena Austerslaatt, Emelie Blennow, Tilde Bocker, Kellie Gachaga, Sydney Scraba, Thea Wakeford-Wesmann
Soccer: Maeve Burger, Bailey Fithian, Doro Greulich, Nora Hellmers, Logan Strange, Hilma Svalander, Sairra Tucker
Swimming and Diving: Jessie Baldwin, Amanda Dreyer, Vasiliki Falaina, Carolyn Ann Godwin, Ann Kharlamova, Rachel Madaryn, Avery McLean, Palmer Ristroph, Laura Ruiz Astorga, Lea Zengerling
Men's Track and Field: Ryan Amador, Max Holzmueller
Women's Track and Field: Jessica Gray, Christina Nickerson, Hunter Paul
Volleyball: Taylor Lindberg, Veronica Marin
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