Diamond Club

Twelve teams recognized as NAIA Scholar Teams
Led by the men's golf team (3.51 GPA), the Bees had 12 squads named Scholar-Teams by the NAIA.
SCAD's student-artist-athletes compiled a 3.196 GPA in 2008-09.

Michael MacEachern
Sports Information Director

8/6/2009 5:37:57 PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -The NAIA has recognized 12 Savannah College of Art and Design programs as Scholar Teams.

A record total of 837 teams, which represented a 12 percent increase over last year, earned at least a 3.00 grade point average (on a 4.00 scale) during the 2008-09 academic year.

SCAD had the 12th-most teams recognized by the NAIA. The College of Idaho led everyone as 19 teams were lauded by the NAIA. SCAD had the most teams honored among the nine The Sun Conference institutions. The Bees finished ahead of Embry-Riddle (Fla.) University (11), St. Thomas (Fla.) University (8), Warner University (4), Webber International University (4), University of South Carolina Beaufort (3) and Northwood (Fla.) University (2).

"Our student-artist-athletes worked very hard for these honors," said Athletics Director Quin Monahan. "I'm proud of them as well as their coaches for their steady and committed efforts. Not only do they continue to accomplish great things on the field of play but in the classroom and studio as well."

Leading the way for SCAD was the men's golf team with a 3.55 team grade point average last year. Women's golf was next at 3.44 while the NAIA national championship women's swimming team compiled a 3.32 GPA. Women's tennis also was recognized with a 3.30 GPA followed by men's tennis (3.26), men's swimming (3.26) , softball (3.23), women's basketball (3.21), women's soccer (3.20), women's cross country (3.14), women's track and field (3.14) and men's soccer (3.14).

Besides the classroom where the average GPA for a SCAD student-artist-athlete was 3.196, the Bees were also very successful on the playing fields in 2008-09. SCAD, which finished in 18th position in the final Learfield Sports Directors' Cup NAIA standings, had nine different teams ranked in their respective NAIA national rankings this past season. The Bees had eight teams that competed at their respective national championship and another that had individuals compete at theirs.