Mountaineer student-athletes wearing their Sun Belt Conference medallions pose at the 2016 commencement ceremony in Appalachian’s Holmes Convocation Center. Photo by Marie Freeman
BOONE, N.C. — Since its 2014-15 transition to the Sun Belt Conference for all but two sports (wrestling and field hockey), Appalachian State University has paced the league in academic performance among its student-athletes.
Last fall, Appalachian Athletics posted its 11th consecutive semester with a grade point average above 3.0 for Mountaineer student-athletes.
The 2017 fall semester GPA was 3.07 for all of athletics, contributing to a cumulative GPA of 3.10 for Appalachian student-athletes. These student-athletes are among the 10,740 (63.6 percent) Appalachian undergraduate students who achieved a 3.0 or higher GPA for the fall 2017 semester, and the 10,840 students who earned a cumulative fall 2017 GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Thirteen Appalachian teams had a semester GPA above 3.0, and 13 teams have maintained a cumulative GPA above 3.0. A total of 22 student-athletes recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA for the fall semester.
Additionally, 297 student-athletes made Appalachian Athletics’ academic honor roll, an achievement that requires a minimum GPA of 3.25 while being enrolled in at least 12 hours of coursework.
The Appalachian’s women’s cross country team earned a semester GPA of 3.59 and a cumulative GPA of 3.53, ranking it first among women’s sports teams at Appalachian. The men’s cross country team attained the highest semester GPA among men’s sports with a 3.39, and men’s golf led the way with a 3.26 cumulative GPA.
In 2017, Appalachian won the Sun Belt Institutional Graduation Rate Award for the second time in three years. The Mountaineers led the league with 237 combined student-athletes on the 2016-17 Sun Belt Commissioner's List (3.5 or higher GPA) or Academic Honor Roll (3.0-3.49 GPA).
The top three performing teams for overall fall 2017 GPA were Appalachian’s women’s cross country, women’s soccer and women’s tennis.
About Mountaineer Athletics
More than 450 student-athletes compete in 20 NCAA Division I varsity sports at Appalachian State University, 10 for men and 10 for women. Appalachian was a dominant force in the Southern Conference for more than 40 years before joining the Sun Belt Conference in July 2014 — one of 10 conferences that are members of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The Mountaineer football team claimed back-to-back 10-win seasons and bowl victories in 2015 and 2016, providing a catalyst for comprehensive excellence to grow across all Appalachian sports while competing at the highest levels of college athletics.
About Appalachian State University
Appalachian State University, in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The transformational Appalachian experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and embrace diversity and difference. As one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina system, Appalachian enrolls about 19,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.
