Student-athletes excel with GPA

Senior Emily Kasavana is just like any other IU student, except for two distinct differences.

The first is shown in her academic excellence; she has a 4.0 grade-point average through the end of her junior year.

Not only does she excel in the classroom, but also she is the varsity rowing team’s co-captain.  

Kasavana is just one of 83 student-athletes named to the 2009 Spring Academic All-Big Ten team. Kasavana and golfer Drew Allenspach were the only two Hoosiers to acquire 4.0 GPAs.  

In order for student-athletes to be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten Team selection, they must be a letter-winner in their second academic year and have a GPA of 3.0 or more.   

Kasavana attributes time management and staying organized as the keys to her academic success. It helps that Kasavana is very interested in her major: business economics and public policy. But Kasavana’s work ethic plays a serious role in her grades.

“For me it’s about honestly giving my best effort both in the classroom and on the lake,” she said.

Kasavana’s teammates also gave their best efforts academically. Twelve members of the rowing team were named to the All-Big Ten Academic Team, the second most for any women’s varsity team this spring.  

Rowing coach Steve Peterson cites hard work as the foundation of his team’s academic success. Peterson said he feels it can be extremely easy for athletes to get wrapped up in preparation for their sport and forget they are here for an education and not just for sports.  

“Especially in our sport, where there is no professional rowing, huge contracts or adidas sponsorships waiting for our athletes after college – no matter how good they are at our sport – their future is going to depend upon the education they get, so it has to be an emphasis,” Peterson said. “It is like the old saying goes: There is a reason they are student-athletes and not athlete-students, and that is because they have to be students first.”  

Other women’s teams also achieved notable success. The women’s track and field team boasted the most honorees, with 19 student-athletes receiving the award. Water polo was third with nine players; the tennis team had seven players; golf garnered five award-winners and softball had four players honored.  

With 141 members on IU’s spring varsity women’s teams, having 56 student-athletes receive this award could be considered less than exemplary.  

However, freshmen are ineligible for the award. That leaves 88 eligible female student-athletes, which means nearly two-thirds of eligible female athletes have a 3.0 GPA or higher.

The men also did well across all spring sports.

Men’s track and field had 15 student-athletes receive honors; baseball had eight and golf and tennis both had two honorees.  

Once again, with the men’s teams, the mode of evaluation plays a big part.  

For example, the men’s tennis team only had two players named to the Academic All-Big Ten Team. But the team as a whole did well academically.  

Freshmen and one first-year transfer comprised half of the team and were ineligible for the award, men’s tennis coach Randy Bloemendaal said.  

Bloemendaal said two of the three eligible players on the team were named to the Academic All-Big Ten Team, and he also said the men’s tennis team had the third-highest GPA among the other IU men’s teams.  

Even though not all are eligible for Academic All-Big Ten, six of the men’s tennis players received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Academic All-American award, and one member was named an ESPN Academic All-American, Bloemendaal said.  

Regardless of how the student-athletes accomplishments are measured, Athletics Director Fred Glass said he is extremely proud of all the athletes honored.

Glass said he is very excited about having 83 student-athletes qualify for the award but will maintain a “never satisfied” attitude toward academic success.  

And to help students better achieve academic success, Glass has made several changes in his short tenure as athletics director.

Originally, the associate athletics director had been responsible for more than 10 duties, which Glass said was too much for one person to do. So, Glass reorganized the department to create an associate athletics director for academics and one solely for compliance. By hiring from within, enough money was saved that a new academic advisor was hired.  

Glass also said priorities were slightly restructured. Priority No. 1 is following the rules, with both academics and athletic performance falling second and third.  

Another improvement to the athletics department is the creation of a new academic center. Glass described the $3 million investment as a place for student-athletes to get academic support, and he eventually hopes to have support for the general student body available through the center.  

The academic center will remain its official name until a donation is received for naming rights, Glass said.

In regard to the teams with fewer students honored, Glass said some grade issues are still being worked out. But given the GPAs throughout all the sports teams, he is pleased where things are headed.  

Across the Big Ten, IU had the seventh-highest number of student-athletes honored, according to bigten.org. But other than Michigan State and Minnesota, all of the other Big Ten schools honoring more athletes did so because of more at-large spring sports.

Overall, the Big Ten recognized 2,242 Academic All-Big Ten honorees during the 2008-09 year, the most athletes ever recognized, according to bigten.org.