VILLANOVA, Pa.—The dedication that Villanova student-athletes show to their academic pursuits has reached an impressive milestone as Villanova Athletics is celebrating 20 consecutive years in which the grade point average of its student-athletes has been higher than a 3.0. The milestone comes as of the end of the Spring 2023 semester, which marked the 40th straight grading period with a department GPA above a 3.0. More recently, the bar has been set even higher with student-athletes posting a GPA above a 3.3 in each of the last 11 semesters. The mark for Spring 2023 was a GPA of 3.472 for 525 student-athletes. For the third straight semester each of the 24 varsity sport programs had a team GPA above 3.0 in Spring 2023.
Continued success in the classroom has occurred across the board for Villanova Athletics, and especially in recent years. During the Spring semester every varsity sport posted a team GPA above a 3.2, with nine teams earning a mark of 3.6 or higher. The department was led by the Wildcats field hockey program which compiled the highest team GPA in the Spring at 3.681. The men's swimming & diving program had the highest men's GPA at 3.624, while other sports in the department's top five included women's tennis (3.665); rowing (3.644); women's basketball (3.642) and water polo (3.641).
The latest release of academic data included the announcement of the annual Nnenna Lynch Award and Dr. Dan Regan Award winners. Women's cross country won the Nnenna Lynch Award as the varsity sport with the highest team GPA – 3.690 – for the entire academic year, while women's basketball is the Dr. Dan Regan Award winner for having the most improved academic year GPA from 2021-22 to 2022-23.
The latter award is especially impressive for a women's basketball squad that performed at an elite level both academically and on the court. This year's Wildcats squad won 30 games, reached the final game of the BIG EAST Championship and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with two wins on their home court. This is the 11th time that women's cross country has won the Nnenna Lynch Award and the fourth time in the past seven academic years.
More than half of the senior Class of 2023 (52%) graduated with honors this Spring for having a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. That figure represents student-athletes who graduated cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude. It also includes golfer Luke Alexander who earned special recognition at the Senior Student-Athlete Reception in May for graduating with a perfect career GPA of 4.0 while majoring in Finance.
Individual academic achievement featured more than 87 percent of the 525 student-athletes (456 total) recording a GPA above a 3.0 for the Spring semester. More than 400 student-athletes (413, or 79%) were named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for having a 3.2 or higher GPA, while there were 307 Dean's List honorees for having a semester GPA better than a 3.5. Every varsity sport program had at least one student-athlete with a 4.0 GPA in Spring 2023. That list featured 57 student-athletes in all, led by football with six 4.0 GPAs while both rowing and field hockey had five student-athletes at a 4.0 for the semester.
Villanova has consistently ranked among the nation's elite institutions for its combination of athletic success and academic excellence. While continuing to raise the bar with its Spring 2023 academic data, Villanova Athletics also stood out for its success in competition during the past several months. In addition to the women's basketball team reaching the Sweet 16, men's basketball continued its streak of national postseason play with an appearance in the NIT and the women's swimming & diving program won its 10th straight BIG EAST team title.
During the spring season the softball team advanced to the BIG EAST championship game while both the men's and women's lacrosse squads qualified for BIG EAST championship play. The men's and women's track & field squads combined to send seven individual athletes to the NCAA Championships.
Last month in a release of NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) data, Villanova had an overall APR of 996 while 12 varsity sport programs earned a perfect 1000 multi-year APR score. It is the sixth straight year in which data has been collected that the Wildcats have had 10 or more teams earn a perfect score, while Villanova was one of just seven schools nationwide to have at least 12 teams with a multi-year score of 1000.
Later this summer there will be additional releases of academic recognition with BIG EAST announcements of its annual Team Academic Excellence Awards, Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Awards and the 2022-23 BIG EAST All-Academic Team. Similar releases will be forthcoming by CAA Football, the Colonial Athletic Association (rowing) and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (water polo).
