Taylor Athletics Paces NAIA in Academic Excellence
NAIA Release | TU Honors Page | Scholar Teams: By School | By Sport | By GPA
KANSAS CITY – For the seventh-consecutive year, Taylor University saw all of its varsity athletics programs earn NAIA Scholar-Team status after posting collective grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher during the 2018-2019 year.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced that 1,883 teams from around the nation earned Scholar-Team recognition by posting a team GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale.
Taylor placed all 19 of its varsity athletics programs on the list during the 2018-2019 year, ranking first in the NAIA among schools to see each of their teams honored. Additionally, the Trojans saw 18 of their 19 programs post a GPA of 3.20 or better to rank second in the nation in that classification and rated 10th overall with the 19 Scholar-Teams.
Of those 19 Scholar-Teams to post GPA's over the 3.0 mark, TU had 15 at 3.30 and above, with eight squads posting marks of 3.50 and above.
Taylor saw three of its teams qualify among the top-100 GPAs in the NAIA, as women's cross country finished 60th with a 3.69 GPA, women's basketball ranked 66th at 3.68 and women's outdoor track rated 82nd at 3.66.
Taylor had 14 teams rated inside the Top-25 for their respective sports, with eight programs ranking inside the Top-10. TU turned in the best team GPA of any men's lacrosse program at 3.36, while women's outdoor track (3.66) and men's indoor track (3.32) finished fourth, football (3.07) ended fifth, women's indoor track (3.62) and men's basketball (3.28) scored sixth, women's basketball (3.68) took seventh and baseball (3.26) finished ninth in their respective sports.
Taylor led its conference or league in team GPA in football, men's lacrosse, men's indoor track, men's outdoor track, women's indoor track and women's outdoor track, and finished first, second or third in its league in 16-of-19 sports.
Of its nine women's varsity athletics teams, Taylor saw all nine post GPAs over the 3.40 mark, while nine-of-10 men's teams came in at 3.25 and above.
Taylor has now led the NAIA in percentage of teams to earn Scholar-Team honors in each of the past seven years, while ranking No. 2 in 2012-2013, No. 3 in 2013-2014, No. 1 in 2014-2015, No. 5 in 2015-2016, No. 3 in 2016-2017, No. 10 in 2017-2018 and No. 10 in 2018-2019 in total number of Scholar-Teams.
Taylor's 2018-2019 NAIA Scholar-Teams
Women's Cross Country – 3.69
Women's Basketball – 3.68
Women's Outdoor Track – 3.66
Women's Indoor Track – 3.62
Women's Golf – 3.61
Women's Soccer – 3.57
Volleyball – 3.52
Women's Tennis – 3.50
Men's Golf – 3.45
Softball – 3.44
Men's Lacrosse – 3.36
Men's Cross Country – 3.36
Men's Indoor Track – 3.32
Men's Soccer – 3.32
Men's Tennis – 3.30
Men's Outdoor Track – 3.29
Men's Basketball – 3.28
Baseball – 3.26
Football – 3.07