May 12, 2010

DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Davis men's water polo and women's tennis teams are among nearly 850 Division I teams honored by the NCAA on Wednesday with Public Recognition Awards for Academic Progress Rate (APR) success, each Aggie team receiving the accolades for the third consecutive year.

The NCAA bestows the distinction to teams scoring in the top 10 percent in each sport with their mult-year APR's. The APR calculation, which covers both student-athlete retention and eligibility, is part of the NCAA's committment to academic reform. Teams receiving recogntion this year had APR's ranging from 978 to a perfect 1,000. The score for the minimum level of academic success is 925.

In some sports, the number of teams recognized exceeded 10 percent depending on the number of perfect scores.

Nearly 6,300 Division I teams were eligible for the award this year with 228 of 331 Division I insitutions epresented.

"Most Division I student-athletes and teams take seriously their dual responsibilities in the classroom and on the court or field of play, but every year there is a special category of teams that perform exceptionally well and deserve this noteworthy recognition," NCAA Interim President Jim Isch said in a press release announcing the award.

The men's water polo team is in good company, joining just three other programs honored - Brown University, Bucknell University and Stanford.

The number of teams recognized this year is up from the 767 that earned the honor in 2009. The multi-year APR scores covered academic years from 2005-06 to 2008-09.