2009 ACWPC Women's All-Academic Awards

DENVER, Colo. -- 89 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) women’s water polo players were honored among 290 total recipients by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) this week when they earned All-Academic Awards from the national coaching organization.

Student-athletes were recognized in three levels: 3.2 to 3.4 GPA (Excellent), 3.41 to 3.7 GPA (Superior) and 3.71 to 4.0 (Outstanding). The CWPA had 28 players honored in the Excellent category and 33 on the Superior roll with 28 Outstanding recipients as 69% of the league's honored players had a 3.41 or higher grade point average.

The number of recognized athletes is a dramatic increase over the 2008 honors as the league garnered 65 awards, with 25 Excellent, 22 Superior and 18 Outstanding, and surpasses the 2007 total of 78 in which the CWPA's membership received 26 Excellent, 30 Superior and 22 Oustanding awards.

Overall, CWPA student-athletes comprised nearly 31% of the total recognized population (30.7%), including 48.3% of the Outstanding, 28.2% of the Superior and 24.3% of the Excellent recipients from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), independents and the Collegiate Water Polo Association, topping the other conferences in each category to remain the preeminent academic water polo conference in the nation.

In the team GPA standings, three CWPA teams were ranked among the top seven schools as Washington & Jefferson College (3.36), Brown University (3.35) and Hartwick College (3.20) placed second, third and seventh, respectively.  Chapman University topped the nation at 3.42, while Colorado College (3.31, fourth), Macalester College (3.28, fifth) and University of Redlands (3.21, sixth) round out the elite teams.

The awards come in the wake of the release of the CWPA Scholar-Athlete team in which 103 varsity athletes were honored with 31 Excellent, 42 Superior and 30 Outstanding honorees from the leage office.  The number of league honorees is greater than the ACWPC team due to some coaches not being members of the national coaching organization.