DIV 2
76 BULLDOGS RECEIVE D2 ADA ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
CLEVELAND — The Division 2 Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) announced the 2019-20 recipients of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Awards. The Academic Achievement Awards, in its 13th year, is a program that recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level.
In total, the University of Minnesota Duluth had a total of 76 student athletes receive the award. Women's cross country and track and field led the way this year with 22 student athletes receiving the award. Volleyball followed with 10 student athletes. Soccer had nine, men's cross country and track and field had eight, football had seven, women's basketball had six, baseball and men's basketball had four each, with softball and tennis rounding out the sports with three a piece.
In total, there were 15,318 student-athletes from 201 institutions recognized for the 2019-20 Academic Achievement Awards. These numbers shattered the records for highest number of participating institutions and the largest number of student-athletes being nominated since the award program's inception. For the second-straight year, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) has the largest number of student-athlete honorees with 1,365 total, closely followed by the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) with 1,333 and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) with 1,220.
"In a year when we can use all of the good news, the D2 ADA Officers and Board of Directors are proud to recognize the highest number of student-athletes with the Academic Achievement Award than ever before," said D2 ADA President JR Smith, director of athletics at Chadron State College. "The nominations also came from a record number of institutions, showcasing the passion and dedication of our Association and Division II as a whole."
Independently, the PSAC's Gannon University led the way with 219 honorees, followed closely by Stonehill College of the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10) with 208 award winners. Lindenwood University out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference finished third with 188 recipients and another PSAC representative Seton Hill University came in fourth overall with 180. Rounding out the top-five was the GLVC's University of Indianapolis with 175 nominees.
In order for a student-athlete to receive an Academic Achievement Award, the athletics director of the Division II institution MUST BE a CURRENT dues-paying member of the D2 ADA.
Also, the student-athlete must:
have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale
have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work
have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year
About D2 ADA: The D2 ADA is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities; enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics; and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of Division II athletics directors. For more information about the D2 ADA, please visit www.div2ada.com. The D2 ADA is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 56th year.