Air Force Wrestling Leads West Regional in APR
5/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
May 12, 2009
MANHEIM, Pa. - The Air Force wrestling team is one of eight Division wrestling programs recognized for having the highest Academic Progress Rate (APR) in its conference for the second-straight year. The fifth-annual APR report, released last week by the NCAA, showing vast improvements by the wrestling programs, with 21 teams improving 15 or more points from last year. The overall four-year APR for Division I wrestling improved seven points, more than double the three point gain by all Division I athletic teams.
Every Division I sports team calculates its APR each academic year, based on the eligibility, retention and graduation of each scholarship student-athlete. Teams that score below 925 on their four-year rate and have a student leave school academically ineligible can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships through immediate penalties. Teams can also face historically based penalties for poor academic performance over time.
Air Force, with an APR of 983, leads the teams from the West Regional for the second year in a row. Also posting the highest scores in their respective conferences for a second-consecutive year were Iowa State (Big 12), Northwestern (Big 10), George Mason (Colonial), Pittsburgh (Eastern Wrestling League), Northern Illinois (MAC), Stanford (Pac 10) and Davidson (Southern Conference).
This year, Bucknell led the EIWA with a perfect 1000 APR score, Virginia was the top program in the ACC and Millersville University led all teams in the East Regional.
The Air Force wrestling team is also one of three programs at the Academy to earn a public recognition award from the NCAA. The public recognition awards are given each year to teams scoring in the top 10 percent in each sport with their APRs. Other Air Force teams to be granted a public recognition award for the 2007-08 season are the football team and women's outdoor track team.
