June 20, 2012

BOSTON - Highlighted by seven teams achieving a perfect score, a school-record 11 Boston University athletic programs have earned Public Recognition Awards for their latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) for the entire four-year cohort ending with the 2010-11 academic year.

The Terriers' men's cross country team, women's golf, men's ice hockey, softball, women's swimming and both tennis squads were all among the 753 of over 6,400 eligible Division I programs nationwide to record a perfect score of 1,000 in the multi-year data released on Wednesday.

Additionally, wrestling, men's basketball and men's indoor and outdoor track joined the aforementioned programs in finishing in the top 10 percent of their respective sports in the multi-year APR. A total of 19 programs recorded a score of 985 or greater.

BU was one of just six wrestling programs to earn the Public Recognition Award, joining Northwestern, Stanford, Penn, Michigan State, Army and Princeton.

The Terriers join Notre Dame, New Hampshire, St. Lawrence, Princeton, Dartmouth and Brown as the only men's hockey teams with perfect scores. The Terriers and Bears are also the only two programs to have achieved perfect multi-year APR scores each of the last three years.

Winner of the America East title in 2011, men's basketball finished in the top 10 percent for the first time with a score of 990, an improvement of six points from the previous year and 40 points above the Division I average.

The APR, now in its eighth year, provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport. Teams scoring below 925 out of 1,000 can face penalties, such as scholarship losses and restrictions on practice and competition. Rates are based on the past four years of performance.