June 14, 2012

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern was one of the eight Division I wrestling programs honored today by the NCAA for earning Public Recognition Awards, based on their most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rate. These annual awards are earned by teams with APRs in the top-10 percent in each sport.

Northwestern, which placed ninth in the NCAA Championships in March, is being recognized for a fourth consecutive time. The NU wrestling team was one of a school-record 10 Northwestern programs that received Public Recognition Awards as part of the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) program.

“This public recognition by the NCAA is a highly sought after accomplishment; it is an honor that our coaches embrace and seek to achieve for their program,” says Mike Moyer, the Executive Director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association. “I salute the athletes, coaches, administrators, academic support staff, and fans of these programs. The student-athletes on these teams are among the elite competing at the Division I level.”

The University of Pennsylvania wrestling program joins Northwestern in being recognized by the NCAA for a fourth consecutive season.

“Northwestern and Penn’s programs have set the bar high in sustaining academic excellence,” says Moyer. "We are proud of what these programs have demonstrated over the course of time and equally proud of the four programs earning this recognition for the first time."

Stanford is a first time recipient of this academic award in the sport of wrestling and placed 16th in the NCAA tournament, while Duke University is honored for the second season in a row.

Boston University, Michigan State University, Princeton University, and the US Military Academy are the other four teams recognized by the NCAA. Each is a first time recipient of this award.

The sport of wrestling has made tremendous improvement in APR scores during the past four years and each year it is more competitive to finish in the top 10 percent. These top-performing teams' APRs ranged between 978 and a perfect 1000 over the past four years and are among 394 men’s programs honored by the NCAA. Full APR scores for all teams will be released by the NCAA next week.

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