General | 5/14/2019 1:35:00 PM

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – West Liberty University's student-athletes put an exclamation point on a banner 2018-19 school year this spring with a record-shattering performance in the classroom.
    The university's nearly 500 student-athletes combined for a department-record 3.17 grade-point average for the semester, giving the WLU athletic department a 3.14 GPA for the 2018-19 academic year. It is believed to be the first time in school history that Hilltopper student-athletes have posted a combined GPA of 3.00 or higher for an entire school year.
    "One of our primary goals as an athletic department is helping our student-athletes achieve at a high level athletically and academically," athletic director Lynn Ullom said. "This is a credit to the hard work and dedication of West Liberty's student-athletes, coaches and faculty who continue to strive toward this common goal. I am incredibly appreciative of their efforts and offer my heartiest congratulations."
    Nearly 300 Hilltopper student-athletes posted GPAs of 3.00 or higher during the spring and 13 of West Liberty's 18 intercollegiate athletic programs reached or exceeded the 3.00 team GPA mark. Five Hilltopper squads recorded combined team GPAs of 3.50 or better.
    Individually, 65 West Liberty student-athletes achieved perfect 4.00 spring GPAs with 163 finishing the semester with GPAs at or above 3.50 and 276 checking in at 3.00 or higher. Sixteen of the university's 18 intercollegiate sports teams had at least one student-athlete with a 4.00 GPA.
    The Hilltoppers' regionally-ranked volleyball squad once again led the way for the department with a 3.75 team GPA. Every one of head coach Kayla Mull's 17 volleyball players topped the 3.00 GPA mark with 15 posting GPAs of 3.50 or better and eight recording perfect 4.00 GPAs for the semester.
    Women's soccer was close behind at 3.65, followed by men's tennis (3.60), softball (3.59) and women's basketball (3.56). Also posting combined GPAs of 3.00 or higher were the sports of women's golf, women's track, women's cross country, women's tennis, acrobatics and tumbling, men's basketball, men's soccer and wrestling.
    The women's soccer and softball teams tied for the most 4.00 GPAs with 11 each and just missed batting 1.000 in the 3.00 department. Coach Barry Christmas's women's soccer team had 32 of 34 players check in at 3.00 or higher while Coach Herb Minch's Atlantic Region finalist softball squad had 27 of 30 players at 3.00 or better. Coach Kyle Cooper's women's basketball program also impressed with 13 of 16 players cracking the 3.50 GPA mark while driving to an NCAA Division II Tournament berth.
    Not surprisingly, several Hilltopper student-athletes received regional and national recognition for their academic achievements. Men's basketball star Dalton Bolon, a sophomore from Gnadenhutten, Ohio, was honored as West Liberty's 13^th NCAA Division II Academic All-American. This is the seventh straight year the WLU athletic department has produced at least one Academic All-American.
    A charter member of the NCAA Division II Mountain East Conference, WLU has nearly 500 student-athletes competing across a broad spectrum of intercollegiate sports. These include men's football, cross country, basketball, wrestling, track, tennis, baseball, golf and soccer along with women's acrobatics & tumbling, softball, volleyball, cross country, basketball, track, tennis, golf and soccer.
    West Liberty University is a forward-looking, four-year public university steeped in a rich heritage as West Virginia's oldest institution. Today it offers more than 70 undergraduate majors along with a growing number of graduate programs.