More than 61 percent of Spartan student-athletes named to Big South Presidential Honor Roll
8/19/2021 1:00:00 PM | Academic Services, General
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Conference announced today that 61.69 percent of eligible USC Upstate student-athletes landed a spot on the Presidential Honor Roll for their work in the classroom during the 2020-21 academic year.
To be named to the Presidential Honor Roll, student-athletes must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) or better for the recently-completed academic year, and this past season, 161 out of 261 eligible Spartan student-athletes achieved the benchmark.
"I am so proud of all of our student-athletes' efforts this past academic year. They overcame adversity with a level of resilience that I'm confident will serve them for the rest of their lives," said Associate AD for Student-Athlete Enrichment/SWA Sarah Gildersleeve. "I love seeing how hard our student-athletes compete on and off the court, and this group of student-athletes certainly competes well! We hope to continue to build on these successes as we move into a new academic year."
Upstate had 16 student-athletes receive Commissioner's Award distinction for having a 4.0 GPA while 36 Spartans earned Gold Award status (3.75-3.99), 53 earned Silver Award status (3.50-3.74), and 56 student-athletes reached the mark of 3.00-3.49.
Overall in the Big South, 62.61 percent (2,289 out of 3,656) of eligible student-athletes made the Presidential Honor Roll, the second consecutive year above 60 percent. The league had 236 student-athletes receive Commissioner's Award distinction in 2020-21 for having a 4.0 GPA. Each of the Big South's 19 sponsored sports had at least one 4.0 student. Gold Award scholars (3.75-3.99) totaled 551 while another 587 received Silver Award (3.50-3.74) accolades in 2020-21 for a combined total of 1,374 student-athletes with at least a 3.50 GPA last year -- 60.03 percent of all Presidential Honor Roll members at or above that threshold.
2020-21 Big South Commissioner's Award Recipients (Student-Athletes with 4.0 GPA)
Ben Ferrer, Baseball
Jeff Taylor, Baseball
Nevin Zink, Men's Basketball
El Kluaymaingarm, Men's Golf
Justin Hynes, Men's Soccer
Shani Lenderman, Women's Soccer
Jayna Tyler, Women's Soccer
Gracen Chambless, Softball
Hallie Mele, Softball
Sarah Price, Softball
Adison Yoder, Softball
Jamie Connelly, Women's Track & Field/Cross Country
Nikki Deslatte, Volleyball
Rachael Stroot, Volleyball
Renae Watson, Volleyball
Kelly Wiedemann, Volleyball
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