VILLANOVA, Pa.—With each passing semester, Villanova student-athletes are consistently exceeding their own lofty standards for academic achievement and redefining the benchmarks for excellence in the classroom.  The spring semester which just ended saw nearly 600 student-athletes from 24 varsity sports programs set department records for the highest overall semester GPA and the most student-athletes named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.  In addition, eight teams set new records with their spring semester GPAs. 
 
The overall GPA for student-athletes in the Spring 2019 semester was 3.346, a new athletics record and the second straight year that the spring grading period has seen a new record GPA.  With this latest figure, the Athletic Department has now tallied 32 straight semesters over the last 16 academic years with a GPA above a 3.0, including the last nine consecutive semesters in which the GPA was 3.2 or higher.  On an individual level, more than 81 percent of student-athletes – 469 in all – achieved a GPA of at least 3.0 for the spring semester.  Nearly half of the student-athletes – 271, or 47 percent – earned a GPA of 3.5 or higher for the semester.
 
Beginning with the Fall 2016 semester, student-athletes with a semester GPA of at least 3.2 have been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.  There were a record total of 402 honorees for the Spring 2019 semester, surpassing the previous record of 370 which was set earlier in the academic year during the fall grading period.  Student-athletes who earn Athletic Director's Honor Roll distinction are recognized for their excellence in the classroom at a breakfast hosted by Director of Athletics Mark Jackson each spring. 
 
The women's rowing team had the highest spring semester GPA with a mark of 3.618, one of several recent academic accolades for the team.  Four student-athletes from the rowing team earned a perfect 4.0 GPA for the spring, while one current and two former Wildcats were honored with prestigious Fulbright Scholarships.  Graduating senior Ellen Cayer, Briggs Mroz from the Class of 2018 and graduate student Mackenzie Bowden, along with women's swimming & diving alum Mary Spillane from the Class of 2018 were among 31 Villanova University students and alumni who won this elite honor. 
 
There were 21 student-athletes representing 11 different teams who had a 4.0 semester GPA in the spring.  That total includes 14 student-athletes who were in-season during the semester.  The men's track & field team led all sports with five members of the team earning a 4.0 GPA.  The five were Casey Comber, Michael Morrow, Trevor Potts, Zach Swenson and Dylan Tarpey.  Comber qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 1500 meters and was named Villanova's male Student-Athlete of the Year.  The four members of the rowing team who achieved a 4.0 GPA were Hailey Hurteau, Emma Lovejoy, Mackenzie O'Reilly and Kayla Rubin. 
 
The women's soccer, football and women's swimming & diving teams also had multiple student-athletes with a 4.0 GPA.  The members of the soccer team included Kristin Barbour, Cathy Dager and Claire Fell; from football the student-athletes were Colin Gamroth and Garrett Zobel; and the swimming & diving student-athletes were Micaela Grassi and Rayann Jaryszak.  The remaining student-athletes with a 4.0 GPA included Phoebe Christos from women's lacrosse, Emma Decker from volleyball Amanda McNelis from women's track & field, Rachael Overlander from field hockey and Kaysie Stuba from water polo.
 
Earlier this spring, Villanova was recognized for leading all Division I schools with the percentage of its teams (77 percent) that earned NCAA public recognition awards for having a multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) score that ranked within the top 10 percent of their sport nationwide.