Athletics: Spring Semester Proves Successful for Ragin’ Cajuns Student-Athlete

LAFAYETTE – Nine teams completed the Spring 2013 semester with a 3.0 GPA or higher paving the way for a record sixth straight semester that the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns student-athletes had a collective GPA above 2.80, it was announced Friday as part of the athletic department’s academic achievements during the recently completed semester.
 
A total of 13 of the Ragin’ Cajuns 16 teams completed the term with at least a 2.9 GPA. Individually, 162 of the 307 student-athletes (52.7 percent) had at least a 3.0 GPA during the fall term.
 
The department-wide GPA of 2.919 marked the second straight semester above 2.9 as the student-athletes combined for a 2.964 GPA during the Fall 2012 term.
 
Seventeen student-athletes posted a perfect 4.0 GPA and there were 27 student-athletes who completed their degree requirement during the term and graduated in the May commencement.
 
The numbers were compiled by the UL Student-Athlete Academic Center, which coordinates the academic progress of all student-athletes in the Ragin’ Cajuns Athletics Department.  The center has tracked the academic performance of student-athletes since 1982.
 
”Our student-athletes never fail to amaze me in what they are able to accomplish both on and off the playing field,” Louisiana Director of Athletics Scott Farmer said. “When you consider the time and effort that they put into representing the University at the highest of levels intercollegiately, their accomplishments in the classroom are astounding.
 
“The academic mission of the department has always been to provide our student-athletes with the support needed to succeed, both in competition and in every day life,” Farmer added. “It makes me proud when I see them perform academically like they did during the spring semester.”
 
Football (John Broussard, Daniel Cadona, Melvin White) and baseball (Ben Frith, Seth Harrison, and Nick Zaunbrecher) led the way with three student-athletes recording a 4.0 GPA. Ten other sports had at least one representative on the list of 4.0 student-athletes.
 
Golf led all sports with a 3.347 GPA during the term with nine of its 11 student-athletes (82 percent) owning at least a 3.0 GPA and Thomas Strandemo, Kelsey Angelle, Ethan Savoy and Marcel Walzl each posting a 3.5 GPA or higher.
 
For golf it was a fourth straight semester with a team GPA above 3.0 and a second straight semester with a team record eclipsing the previous record of 3.241 set during the Fall 2012 semester.
 
Joining golf on the list of nine sports with a 3.0 team GPA or better included volleyball (3.339), men’s tennis (3.318), baseball (3.189), women’s tennis (3.188), women’s basketball (3.111), soccer (3.068) men’s cross country (3.010) and women’s cross country (3.000). 
 
For women’s tennis, the performance marked the seventh straight semester that the squad registered a 3.0 or better, the longest active streak. Men’s tennis (6) and volleyball (6) have the next longest active streaks.
 
Women’s basketball continued its academic upswing, climbing to a team-record 3.111 GPA – the first-ever GPA above 3.0 for the program. The performance came on the heels of raising their GPA from 2.569 in Spring 2012 to 2.849 in Fall 2012.
 
Men’s basketball also turned in a record-setting academic performance as the squad’s 2.904 GPA was the highest since the previous record 2.824 was registered in the Fall 2006 semester.
 
Football led the way with 33 student-athletes with a 3.0 followed by baseball (21), women’s track (16), softball (15) and volleyball (12) rounding out the top five.
 
In addition to golf, teams with at least 70 percent or more of its squad list maintaining a 3.0 GPA during the Spring 2013 semester were women’s basketball (7-of-10), men’s tennis (10-of-14), women’s tennis (6-of-8) and volleyball (12-of-15).
 
— Ragin’ Cajuns —
Matt Hebert
Assistant Sports Information Director
University of Louisiana

Cox Communications Athletics Center
201 Reinhardt Drive
Lafayette, LA   70506

Office: (337) 482-6330
Cell: (337) 288-6023
E-mail: matth@louisiana.edu
www.ragincajuns.com