Cross Country team recieves academic honor

The Sam Houston State University men’s cross country team was awarded the NCAA Academic Progress Rate Public Recognition Award on Thursday according to gobearkats.com.

According to NCAA.com the NCAA annually honors teams earning multiyear academic progress rates in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.

The men’s cross country team had a perfect four-year APR score of 1.000 for the 2010-2011 school year. This is a first for a SHSU team, and the cross country team was the only men’s team in the Southland Conference. The team was also one of six teams total in the SLC to be recognized, according to gobearkats.com.

“We are obviously very excited about that, any time that a team gets academic recognition it’s great,” Coach David Self said.

Only 27 teams in the state of Texas earned the recognition out of the 954 total that were honored nationally. Out of the 347 Division I colleges and universities a total of 263 schools placed at the top of the APR list.

“The fact they are able to get in there and get their work done is a great accomplishment,” Self said.

909 teams total received the recognition of APR award.

The SHSU cross country place got eighth place at the Southland Conference Championship.

The men’s cross country team only lost one member this year and according to Self, next year is looking good because they are gaining a great transfer and the freshman recruiting class is good.