BURLINGTON, Vt. – The University of Vermont has won the America East Academic Cup for the 2004-05 season. The conference made the announcement this afternoon. Vermont student-athletes posted a 3.14 grade-point average, the highest GPA in the 10-year history of the award, breaking the mark of 3.12 set by the University of Maine in 2003-04.

UVM, winners of the inaugural America East Academic Cup in 1995-96, is the third school to win the award twice (New Hampshire, Binghamton). The Catamounts had finished second in the academic cup standings in each of the past three seasons.

“We are very pleased to have been selected as the winner of the 2004-05 America East Academic Cup. This award reflects both the commitment of our student-athletes to their academic responsibilities and the support and encouragement which they receive from our faculty and staff," stated Dr. Robert Corran, Director of Athletics at Vermont.

Vermont fielded teams in 16 of the 22 sports sponsored by America East during the 2004-05 academic year and 14 of those teams posted grade-point averages of 3.0 or better. The Catamounts had six sports leaders, including women’s cross country, whose 3.52 grade-point average was the highest of any of the 175 conference teams. The three-time America East Men’s Basketball Champions led that sport with a 3.04 grade-point average, while other team winners for Vermont were the women’s basketball (3.20), men’s lacrosse (2.84), women’s swimming and diving (3.32) and men’s indoor track and field (3.05) programs.

Vermont’s men’s basketball and Maine’s men’s cross country teams (3.37 GPA) were the only two teams to win an America East Championship and post the highest grade-point average among the conference’s teams.

In 2004-05 a total of 190 Vermont student-athletes were named to the fall or winter/spring America East Academic Honor Rolls and the Catamounts posted a grade-point average of 3.0 or better for the fifth straight semester.

Vermont also produced five student-athletes who earned spots on six ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I Teams, including Amy Cochran (Keene, N.H.), a two-sport athlete who is a member of the women’s soccer and women’s alpine teams, and was named to the national Academic All-America Women’s Soccer and Women’s At-Large Team (skiing).

Maine (3.12), University of Hartford (3.08) and New Hampshire (3.04) were other institutions to compile grade-point averages of 3.00 or better in 2004-05. Stony Brook University (2.98), Binghamton (2.96), University at Albany (2.90), Northeastern University (2.89), Boston University (2.88) and UMBC (2.79) rounded out the America East institutions.

Other sport winners were: baseball, Binghamton (3.01); field hockey, Maine (3.31); men’s golf, Hartford (3.24); women’s golf, Albany (3.45); women’s lacrosse, Stony Brook (3.09); men’s soccer, Hartford (3.25); women’s soccer, Hartford (3.46); softball, Hartford (3.23); men’s swimming and diving, New Hampshire (3.21); men’s tennis, Stony Brook (3.16); women’s tennis, UMBC (3.25); women’s indoor track and field, New Hampshire (3.31); men’s outdoor track and field, Maine (3.06); women’s outdoor track and field (3.28); and volleyball, Maine (3.40).

The America East Academic Cup was established by the America East Board of Directors in 1995 and is presented to the institution whose student-athletes post the highest grade-point averages during that academic year. The grade-point averages of all student-athletes who compete in the 22 championship sports sponsored by America East are averaged to determine the winner.