SALT LAKE CITY - Utah's football, gymnastics, men's tennis and volleyball teams earned
NCAA Public Recognition Awards earlier today.
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Based on their most recent multiyear Academic Progress Rate, these teams have attained NCAA Public Recognition Awards for posting scores in the top-10 percent of their sport. The APR is an annual scorecard of academic achievement calculated for all Division I sports teams nationally.
"We are incredibly proud of the academic accomplishments of all of our student-athletes, and it is especially gratifying to see these four programs recognized nationally for such great distinction," said
Mark Harlan, Director of Athletics. "It speaks to the terrific students our coaches recruit to their programs and the high priority coaches and staffs place on their students' academic success. I also want to acknowledge the dedication of our academic support staff and all who work so hard to support our student-athletes' overall development."
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Gymnastics and volleyball garnered Public Recognition Awards for a fifth time, while football and men's tennis picked up their third. Volleyball has ranked among the top 10 nationally in APR for the last four years, gymnastics has been near the top for the last three years and football has now gained recognition the past two years. This is the first time men's tennis has earned this recognition since 2010-11.
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Utah has had a program earn a Public Recognition Award for seven-consecutive years and since the first year of the APR, 2004-05, 26 teams have been recognized.
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Football won the Pac-12 South Division championship and played in the Alamo Bowl. Seven Utes were selected in the 2020 NFL Draft and five were named AP All-Americans. Fourteen student-athletes were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic Honor Roll, including 2020 second-round draft choice
Jaylon Johnson.
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Gymnastics won the 2019-20 Pac-12 Championship as five student-athletes earned All-American honors. Eight student-athletes,
Alexia Burch,
Hunter Dula,
Cammy Hall,
Cristal Isa,
Adrienne Randall,
Missy Reinstadtler,
Sydney Soloski and
Kim Tessen were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic Honor Roll.
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Volleyball reached the Sweet 16 this season before falling to eventual national champion Stanford on its home court in five sets. Four student-athletes were named All-Americans as
Berkeley Oblad,
Kenzie Koerber,
Sarah Stephens and
Alexa Van Komen picked up Pac-12 All-Academic Honor Roll recognition.
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Men's Tennis was 12-5 this spring, 12-1 at home, before the premature end to its season. The Utes knocked off nationally ranked Iowa and had a top doubles team in
Randy Cory and
Russell Benkaim. Utah has a pair of Pac-12 All-Academic and ITA Scholar Athletes in
Slava Shainyan and
Mathias Gavelin.
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APR scores for all Division I teams will be released May 19. The APR measures eligibility, graduation and retention each semester or academic term and provides a clear picture of the ongoing academic performance for each team in every sport. All teams must meet an academic threshold of 930 to qualify for the postseason and can face penalties for continued low academic performance.
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The most recent APRs are multiyear rates based on scores from the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18, 2018-19 academic years.
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