The CSCAA has released their Scholar All-America Teams from the semester in the fall of 2012, ranking the teams with an average GPA for the semester of 3.0 or better. The men’s list is no surprise at the top, whereas the women’s list will raise a few more eyebrows.
The top 5 teams on the men’s list include the standbys of the Ivy Leagues, led by Yale (3.57), Harvard (3.48), and Dartmouth (3.38). After them came Xavier University and the University of Denver.
The women’s list, however, won’t be as much of household academic names. The number one ranked team: the University of North Texas with a team GPA of 3.62. Number two is Alabama, followed by Gardner-Webb, Toledo, and Fairfield.
There’s a couple of really interesting teams on that list. Obviously, the one at the top, the Mean Green from North Texas in the Dallas suburb of Denton. Since Joe Dykstra took over that team 6 seasons ago, he has developed them from the lower ranks of the mid-majors into a mid-major power. Last year alone, the team broke school records in 18 different events. As impressive as that athletic overhaul has been, the academic side of his program has flourished, culminating with this number-one ranking.
There’s a few other teams on this list that have new coaches as well. Dennis Pursley is in his first year at Alabama, and Toledo is in their first year under Chris Peters.
There is one small piece of bad news with this list; Daytona State College is one of only two Junior College teams (along with Indian River) to get above a 3.0 GPA, yet the school is cutting the program. One of the big goals for these Junior College programs is to give students a chance to stabilize their academic success before transferring to a larger, more traditional university setting. It’s a huge blow that a program like Daytona State, that was accomplishing that goal, will be no more.
Among the elite college teams in terms of speed that also ranked very high on these lists that we picked out included:
- Cal women (3.23)
- Texas women (3.22)
- Auburn women (3.26)
- Virginia women (3.01)
- USC women (3.11)
- Tennessee women (3.00)
- Michigan men (3.12)
- Ohio State men (3.27)
- Indiana men (3.12)
- USC men (3.11)
- Tennessee men (3.35)
- Georgia men (3.03)
- Auburn men (3.00)
Below, we’ve listed the top 5 from each division. Click the header to see the full list, and congratulations to all of the teams that were able to survive the rigors of collegiate athletics while maintaining such high levels of academic success.
Yale University 3.57
Harvard University 3.48
Dartmouth College 3.38
Xavier University 3.38
University of Denver 3.36
University of North Texas 3.62
University of Alabama 3.57
Gardner-Webb University 3.55
University of Toledo 3.55
Fairfield University 3.53
The University of Findlay 3.37
Colorado School of Mines 3.28
Lenoir-Rhyne University 3.25
Drury University 3.24
Queens University of Charlotte 3.24
The College of Saint Rose 3.68
University of Bridgeport 3.60
Drury University 3.58
Catawba College 3.52
LIU Post 3.52
Clark University 3.60
Pomona-Pitzer 3.58
Swarthmore College 3.54
Vassar College 3.48
Emory University 3.42
Pomona-Pitzer 3.59
Luther College 3.58
Macalester College 3.58
Wesleyan University 3.57
The College of New Jersey 3.55
Indian River State College 3.05
Daytona State College 3.01
Savannah College of Art and Design 3.27
Union College 3.14
College of Saint Mary 3.67
Oklahoma Baptist University 3.56
Lindsey Wilson College 3.44
University of the Cumberlands 3.44
Savannah College of Art and Design 3.39
In your elite college teams, I think you missed Zona women with a 3.3 – higher than the others you mention (Cal, USC, etc…).