Clarksville, Ark.-The University of the Ozarks men?s and women?s tennis teams earned the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Team Academic Award, it was announced by college tennis' governing body.
Ozarks was among a handful of NCAA III schools across the country to earn academic distinction for both men’s and women’s teams. The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a team grade point average of at least 3.20 for the 2011-2012 academic year. Ozarks was the only American Southwest Conference program to earn the award for its men’s and women’s teams. Under Head Coach Shaun Wiseman the women’s program posted a 3.29 team grade point average and joined Texas Lutheran University as the ASC’s only representatives. The men’s program posted a 3.20 team grade point average and was the only ASC school on the list.
Additionally, seven student-athletes earned individual accolades from the ITA. Matt Arant, Bishop Bass, Tanner Holman, Todd Turner, Megan Wallace, Whitney Lewis and Ashley Teague earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors. In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must be a letterwinner, maintain a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) and have been enrolled at their present school at least two semesters.
“I am so proud of both my teams for being named ITA All-Academic Teams for NCAA Division III,” said Wiseman. “I have made no secret of how important it is to me that we are successful in the classroom as well as on the court. To have both teams be recognized for this award is validation that the Division III model of balancing academics and athletics can be achieved. Congratulations are in order to our seven ITA Scholar-Athletes as well, as they have set the standard for what it means to be a student-athlete. To see their hard work pay off makes me happy for them.”
2012 ITA Scholar-Athletes
Whitney Lewis (Clarksville, Ark./Management & Administration)
Ashley Teague (Lavaca, Ark./Political Science)
Megan Wallace (Malvern, Ark./Mathematics)
Matt Arant (Georgetown, Texas/History and Literature & Sociology)
Bishop Bass (Greenwood, Ark./General Business)
Tanner Holman (Mesquite, Texas/English & Radio/Television/Video)
Todd Turner (Pearcy, Ark./Biology)
Topics: Athletics