Five UofL athletics programs among national academic leaders

Five University of Louisville athletics teams are among the nation's leaders within their sports in the most recent multiyear Academic Progress Rate (APR) data, the NCAA released this week.

UofL's men's and women's basketball, women's cross country, and men's and women's golf are among the top 10 percent in their respective sports in the latest APR, which measures academic eligibility, retention, and graduation for student-athletes.

It is the sixth-straight year that the Cardinals' men's basketball team has received public recognition through the NCAA Academic Performance Program.  Louisville is one of just nine schools in the nation, including only three from Power 5 conferences, which has earned the recognition each of the last six years.

Five men's basketball players -- Deng Adel, V.J. King, Jordan Nwora, Darius Perry and Ray Spalding -- were named to the 2018 All-ACC Academic Team and a league-best 25 Cardinals have earned that recognition over the last four years. The men's basketball team has produced a combined GPA above 3.0 for 19 of the last 20 semesters, with nine of 14 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better GPA in the 2017 fall semester.

Women's basketball student-athletes Arica Carter, Sam Fuehring and Jazmine Jones were honored on the 2018 ACC All-Academic Team. Nine of the 12 team members were above a 3.0 GPA for the 2018 spring semester, the eighth straight the Cardinals achieved a combined GPA above 3.0. Their collective 3.472 GPA in the spring was the highest ever for a spring semester and the second-best GPA overall for the Cardinals, who reached the 2018 Final Four.  Their collective 3.433 GPA for the 2017-18 academic year was the highest in the last 11 years.

The women's cross country team is earning the honor for the second-consecutive season. The Cardinals, who compiled a remarkable 3.92 GPA in the spring, had 10 student-athletes attain a 4.0 GPA that term for Dean's Scholar honors. Mia Ross, part of that collective group, earned all-ACC Academic Cross Country Team honors. Over the course of the 2017-18 academic year, Louisville achieved a 3.77 cumulative GPA.

The men's golf team posted a 3.37 team GPA for the UofL 2017 fall semester, with eight of nine players named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll. Last year, Erik Dulik and J.D. Lehman were named to the Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars squad by the GCAA, where the team was honored as a Golf Coaches Association All-Academic Team for the second-straight year. UofL was one of 39 schools to earn the President's Special Recognition Status for a men's golf team above a 3.5 GPA.

The women's golf team is earning the honor for the eighth-consecutive year. Notably, Louisville is one of only two women's golf programs in the ACC to earn the Public Recognition Award each year since 2009-10.

Under the watch of head coach Courtney Trimble, the Cardinals capped the spring with a collective 3.544 GPA, the 15th-consecutive semester attaining at least a 3.4 as a team. Molly Skapik, one of seven student-athletes receiving Dean's List accolades in the spring, graduated with her bachelor's degree in accounting and received her diploma during Louisville's spring commencement in May.

Multiyear APRs for the most-recent single-year figures from 2016-17 for all Division I sports teams will be released on May 23.