University of Vermont

The University of Vermont has been awarded the America East Academic Cup for an unprecedented sixth consecutive year, the conference office made the announcement today. UVM student-athletes achieved a 3.19 cumulative grade-point average during the 2009-10 season, marking the highest grade-point average in the 15-year history of the award. The Catamounts shattered their own previous record of a 3.14 GPA that was set during the 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2007-08 academic years.

Vermont is the only school in America East history to have won the Academic Cup six straight years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) and has a total of seven Academic Cups after winning the inaugural award in 1996.

"We are very proud of the way in which our student-athletes represent the university and the ideals of intercollegiate athletics. Their accomplishments in the athletic arena and in the classroom are exceptional and reflect the dedication, commitment and effort they put forth along with the tremendous support and encouragement which they receive from their professors and coaches," said Robert Corran, associate vice president and director of Athletics.

New Hampshire posted a 3.16 GPA to finish second behind Vermont and was followed by Binghamton (3.11), Boston U (3.09), Maine (3.09), Hartford (3.06), Stony Brook (3.03), Albany (2.93) and UMBC (2.83).

A total of 12 of Vermont's 14 teams that compete in America East earned GPAs of 3.0 or better this season. The Catamount women's soccer (3.48), men's indoor track and field (3.27), men's outdoor track and field (3.21) and men's basketball (3.08) programs posted the top team GPAs among all America East teams in their respective sports. A complete list of individual sport winners in America East can be found below.

The Academic Cup, established by the America East Board of Directors in 1995, is presented to the institution whose student-athletes post the highest grade-point averages during that academic year.

The overall institutional grade-point averages were calculated by dividing each student-athlete's quality points by the total credits completed for a grade.

Student-athletes at the University of Vermont posted a 3.22 department grade point average for the spring semester (the mark includes men's and women's hockey and men's and women's skiing which do not compete in America East). It is the highest semester GPA in the department's history and marks the 16th straight semester student-athletes have combined to post above a 3.0 GPA.

Vermont had 13 teams earn GPAs of 3.0 or better in the spring. The women's teams combined to post a 3.370 GPA, while the men's teams recorded a 3.073 GPA. The men's track and field team posted a 3.307 GPA to lead all men's teams at UVM, while the women's cross country team earned a department best 3.564 team GPA.

Other Catamount academic highlights from 2009-10

• Vermont boasts two America East Scholar-Athletes in Kristen Heavens and May Kotsopoulos. Kotsopoulos earned the honor for the third straight season in women's basketball, while Heavens was also named the America East Goalkeeper of the Year in field hockey.
• Three Catamounts, Kotsopoulos, Franz Bernstein (skiing) and Caitlin Patterson (skiing), were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I Team. Kotsopoulos, who led UVM to its second straight America East Women's Basketball Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance, went on to earn Academic All-America honors.

  Bernstein won a national championship in the 20k freestyle at the 2010 NCAA Ski Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo. in March on the way to being named the Male Nordic Skier of the Year by Ski Racing Magazine. Bernstein is the first Catamount to win a national championship in the freestyle since 1998.

  Patterson was honored with the Elite 88 award at the NCAA Ski Championships. The Elite 88 award is given to the student-athlete competing at an NCAA Championship with the highest GPA among all the competitors. Patterson owns a 4.0 GPA as a civil engineering major at Vermont and earned All-America honors at the NCAA Ski Championships after finishing ninth in the 5K classical. In January she competed at the World Junior Championships in Hinterzarten, Germany where she skied to a 17th-place finish in the women's 5k classic and was the top female finisher among North American skiers. Patterson was named the 2010 U.S. Junior Nordic Skier of the Year by Ski Racing Magazine.

• Every team in the University of Vermont athletic department posted an Academic Progress Rate (APR) above the national threshold mark of 925. A total of six program's -- men's basketball, men's cross country, men's skiing, women's cross country, field hockey and women's skiing -- earned a perfect score of 1,000 for the 2008-09 season.
• The Vermont field hockey team received Academic Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA. Each year the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear APR. Specifically, these teams posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport. The Catamounts multi-year rate is a perfect 1,000.
• In March, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida released its annual study, "Academic Progress/Graduation Success Rate Study of Division I NCAA Women's and Men's Basketball Tournament Teams," which compared graduation rates for Division I teams that have been selected for the men's and women's brackets of the 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournaments, and Vermont's men's and women's basketball programs were highly ranked.

  The study examined the Graduation Success Rates (GSR) and the Academic Progress Rates (APR) for the NCAA tournament teams. The study compared the academic performance of male and female basketball student-athletes and of African‐American and white basketball student‐athletes.

• The Vermont women's basketball team was one of 19 women's teams in the NCAA Championship with a 100 percent graduation rate, while the Catamount men's basketball team ranked sixth out of the 65 NCAA participants with a 92 percent graduation rate.
• A total of 17 members of the men's and women's hockey teams were named to the Hockey East All-Academic Teams.
• Twelve members of the UVM ski team were named to the NCAA All-Academic Team in 2010.
• Another 12 student-athletes were named to the America East All-Academic Teams this season and a total of 407 Catamounts earned a spot on the America East Academic Honor Roll in 2009-10.

America East Sport Winners

Baseball - Hartford, 3.05
Men's basketball - Vermont, 3.08
Women's basketball - UMBC, 3.50
Men's cross country - Binghamton, 3.32
Women's cross country - Hartford, 3.66
Field hockey - Albany, 3.36
Men's lacrosse - Binghamton, 3.19
Women's lacrosse - Albany, 3.38
Men's soccer - New Hampshire, 3.15
Women's soccer - Vermont, 3.48
Softball - Binghamton, 3.45
Men's swimming & diving - Boston U, 3.15
Women's swimming & diving - Maine, 3.42
Men's tennis - Binghamton, 3.50
Women's tennis - UMBC, 3.47
Men's indoor track & field - Vermont, 3.27
Men's outdoor track & field - Vermont, 3.21
Women's indoor track & field - Binghamton & New Hampshire, 3.36
Women's outdoor track & field - New Hampshire, 3.41
Volleyball - Hartford, 3.44