May 3, 2007

Cedar Falls, Iowa - Three athletics teams from the University of Northern Iowa have received public recognition from the NCAA for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. UNI's women's tennis, women's indoor track and field, and volleyball teams were all honored for having posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports.

Each school's APR is calculated by measuring the academic eligibility and retention of scholarship student-athletes by team each term. A total of 839 teams from 217 Division I colleges and universities were honored for being in the top 10 percent of their respective sports. The high performing teams all posted APR scores between 975 and 1,000.

Among Missouri Valley Conference schools, UNI was third with three teams recognized, as only Creighton (7) and Bradley (4) had more. In addition, two of UNI's honored teams - women's tennis and volleyball - posted perfect 1,000 scores over the period from 2003 through 2006.

"We are extremely proud of the efforts of these young women, their coaching staffs, and our academic support personnel," UNI director of athletics Rick Hartzell said. "While we strive for success on the field, academic success and progress towards graduation is always the number one goal for our student-athletes. I get a great deal of satisfaction from these results."