Academic success highlights fall semester for Eagle athletics

Ten of Carson-Newman’s 14 intercollegiate athletic teams finished the fall semesters with grade point averages of 3.00 or higher.

Bolstered by Hannah Reese’s 4.0, the women’s cross country team had the highest team GPA for the fall semester at 3.35. The women’s tennis team finished a hundredth of a point behind the cross country team with a 3.34 GPA.

“Realizing that success is a joint effort, I want to personally congratulate these student athletes and say a sincere thank you to the faculty for going the extra mile and giving personal attention and extra effort where it was needed,” Carson-Newman athletic director Allen Morgan said. “Their dedication to our students is a large part of what makes Carson-Newman a learning facility of excellence.”

The women’s golf team was the third team to turn in a GPA above a 3.3 with a 3.31. Men’s tennis and volleyball rounded out the top five with 3.27 and 3.26 team GPAs, respectively.

Of Carson-Newman’s men’s sports, soccer, cross country and baseball all finished with 3.00 team GPAs. John Minor’s men’s golf team finished the semester with a 3.23 GPA.

“Our goal is not only to be nationally recognized athletically, but more importantly that our student athletes be nationally competitive academically,” Morgan said. “After this semester, it appears that they are well on their way to achieving both those goals.”

Women’s soccer rounds out the women’s sports to carry GPAs at 3.00 or better. Richard Moodie’s club finished the fall with a 3.05 GPA.

Carson-Newman hired Gloria Walker as an academic success coach at the end of the first semester to ensure that students had support not only on the field of competition, but in the classroom as well.

The men’s and women’s track rosters have not been set, so their GPAs were not included in the final tally.