Women’s Golf receives NCAA Public Recognition Award for top 10 academic progress rate

The Augusta University women’s golf team has been recognized by the NCAA for ranking in the top 10 percentile of the Division I Academic Progress Rate for the 2014-15 academic year.

The Augusta Jaguars and Head Coach Caroline Hegg were named recipients of the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award on Friday by NCAA President Mark Emmert.

“We are extremely proud of our women’s golf program and their continued academic success,” Director of Athletics Clint Bryant said. “Coach Carline Hegg and her players place academics as a top priority. This is a credit to our outstanding university and the academic leadership which makes this all possible.”

The Jags are one of 1,071 Division I squads that received the recognition. The honor is bestowed upon teams with an NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate in the top 10 percentile of all squads in their respective sports for the academic year.

Following its implementation in 2003 as part of the academic reform, the NCAA tracks the classroom performance of student-athletes on every Division I team through the annual scorecard of academic achievement, known as APR.  The score honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear APR (the most recent APRs are based on scores from the 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years).

“We want to ensure college athletes are getting the most out of their experience, and academics are a top priority in this effort,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said. “The teams honored today earned recognition by making a commitment to success in the classroom as well as in competition. We celebrate their achievement and dedication to preparing themselves for life after college.”

To earn the award, the team is required to score in the top 10 percentile of their sport or between a 983 to a perfect 1,000. Nine hundred and forty-four teams earned a perfect APR score. A total of 290 schools placed at least one team on the top APR list.