Jan. 27, 2004

The American University athletic department announced that the combined grade point averages for the spring and fall of 2003 are the highest achieved in the history of the Academic Support Program at 3.16 and 3.18, respectively, and the top ten percent of the student athletes carry a grade point average at or above 3.83 for the spring and 3.88 for the fall.

The top ten percent is represented by 44 student-athletes, coming from 16 of the 19 Division I sports that American University fields. Of the students in the top percentile, 15 students carry a 4.00 grade point average, in majors including business administration, finance, international relations, chemistry and psychology.

Leading the way for the Eagles is two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America Volleyball Player of the Year, Karla Kucerkova (Olomouc, Czech Republic/Brno). With a 4.00 cumulative GPA in Business Administration, Kucerkova is the only athlete in AU history to receive this award two years in a row.

Also contributing to the Eagles' academic success is the men's cross country and track teams, posting eight athletes in the top 10 percent, including Matthew Barresi (Laurel, Md./Atholton) and Daniel Maurer (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs/Furman), who both earned 4.00 GPA's for the spring semester.

On the women's side, the swimming and diving team garnered seven athletes on the top of the list, for both the fall and the spring, including 2002 Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year, Jessica Lidstrom (Stockholm, Sweden/The Swedish School in London).

As a whole, American University athletics placed an average of 57 percent of the student-athletes on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll for the spring and fall of 2003, including three Patriot League Scholar Athletes of the Year during the spring.