NEW HAVEN, Conn. (August 12, 2020) -- The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) unveiled its 2019-20 CACC Team Academic Award winners on Wednesday, as six schools combined to take home the 17 honors for the 2019-20 academic year. The announcement was made by CACC Commissioner Dan Mara, as the school with the highest team grade point average in each of the league's 16 championship sports, was crowned the Team Academic Award winner for that specific sport.

Wilmington garnered the second most award winners, posting the highest team GPA for the 2019-20 academic year across the sport in the CACC. The winning Wildcat teams were Men's Golf, Men's Lacrosse, Men's Soccer, and Volleyball.

All 17 award winners posted team-wide GPAs of at least 3.09 or higher. The GPA totals represent team-wide marks from the fall 2019 semester (only), as the COVID-19 pandemic in March forced all institutions into remote learning and some into making adjustments to the grade reporting process for the spring semester.

2019-20 CACC TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD WINNERS
Men's Golf - Wilmington University (3.71)
Women's Tennis - Thomas Jefferson University (3.62)
Men's Cross Country - University of the Sciences (3.42)
Women's Cross Country - University of the Sciences (3.50)
Men's Soccer - Wilmington University (3.25)
Women's Soccer - Felician University (3.43)
Women's Volleyball - Wilmington University (3.69)
Men's Basketball - Thomas Jefferson University (3.23)
Women's Basketball - University of the Sciences (3.60)
Men's Tennis - University of the Sciences (3.67)
Softball - University of the Sciences (3.69)
Men's Lacrosse - Wilmington University (3.09)
Women's Lacrosse - Georgian Court University (3.51) & Post University (3.51)
Men's Track & Field - University of the Sciences (3.43)
Women's Track & Field - University of the Sciences (3.55)
Baseball - Thomas Jefferson University (3.28)

University of the Sciences led the way with seven teams being honored, while Wilmington University followed with four squads being honored. Thomas Jefferson University had three teams recognized and Felician University, Georgian Court University and Post University each had one team receive an award. Wilmington men's golf, which won the 2019 CACC Championship last October, had the highest fall GPA of any team in the CACC as the Wildcats posted a 3.71 mark.

To be eligible for the CACC Team Academic Award, a school must have reached sport sponsorship minimums -- as constituted by the NCAA -- in the specific sports. All individuals who appear on a school's squad list for the various sports are factored into the team GPA, including current student-athletes, redshirts, hardships and partial qualifiers.

In addition to the 17 award winners, several other impressive facts and figures were on display throughout the conference, as the CACC boasts some of the highest academic numbers throughout all of NCAA Division II. Overall, 68 percent of CACC teams that met NCAA sport sponsorship this past season posted GPAs of 3.0 or higher (128-of-189). Eleven (11) of the 14 member institutions had at least 50 percent of their teams that compete in a CACC Championship sport achieve GPAs of 3.0 or better. And finally, eight of the nine CACC Champions in 2019-20 reached the 3.0 plateau or better during the fall semester. Various talking points and other facts on CACC academic achievement are located below.

TALKING POINTS

CACC TEAMS W/ 3.0 GPA
Sixty-eight (68) percent (128-of-189) of CACC teams earned GPAs of 3.0 or higher during the fall semester of the 2019-20 season.

MALE & FEMALE COMPARISONS
Eighty-one (81) percent (83-of-102) female CACC teams posted GPAs of 3.0 or higher, while 52 percent (45-of-87) male CACC teams logged marks of at least 3.0.

NEW SPORTS MAKING THE GRADE
The CACC featured three new varsity programs during the 2019-20 season, including Dominican College men's tennis and women's tennis, and Caldwell University men's lacrosse. All three programs posted GPAs of 3.0 or higher during the fall, which was their first semester as a team. DC men's tennis logged a 3.12 GPA, while the women's team had a mark of 3.06. Caldwell MLAX had a 3.07 team-wide GPA.

AT LEAST HALF OF THEIR TEAMS
11 of the 14 CACC-member schools had at least 50 percent of their teams -- who compete in conference-sponsored sports -- post GPAs of 3.0 or higher.

HIGH-ACHIEVING SPORTS
13 of the 16 CACC Championship sports had at least 50 percent of the teams achieve a 3.0 or higher GPA during the fall semester of the 2019-20 season.

RAISING THE TROPHY & ACHIEVING IN CLASS
Eight of the nine CACC Championship Teams in 2019-20 posted a team-wide GPA of 3.0 or higher during the fall semester in 2019-20.

MAKING THE GRADE WHILE MAKING A RUN TO THE POSTSEASON
32 of the 46 teams (70%) in the six CACC Championship sports contested in 2019-20 where teams must qualify for the conference postseason, posted team GPAs of at least 3.0 during the fall of 2019. The sports factored into this total include women's tennis, men's soccer, women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball. Four of the six postseason-qualifying sports saw at least 75 percent of playoff teams post GPAs of 3.0 or better.