The Athletics Department held its second annual Scholar-Athlete Banquet, honoring student-athletes with a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the spring or fall of 2007.  The Grand Salon at the Clarke Field House was packed; not only with parents, faculty, and staff - but with the student-athletes.

That’s because 80 of the University’s 202 student-athletes earned “scholar-athlete” status for spring 2007, and 93 out of 236 earned the distinction in the fall semester.  

Of those, 33 student-athletes in the spring and 36 in the fall attained GPAs of 3.50 or higher.  Two student-athletes in the fall had a perfect 4.0 GPA.

“The Athletics Department has one overarching goal for all our student-athletes, and it has nothing to do with athletics: it is that they earn their degree,” says Athletics Director Dr. Steve Nichols. “I’m very proud of our scholar-athletes — and am especially pleased that nearly 40 percent of our student-athletes achieved this honor — because it shows that they are well on their way to achieving that goal.  Student-athletes have to juggle the competing demands of intercollegiate sports and academics, not to mention their personal lives and, for many, a job as well.  That our scholar-athletes are able to perform in the classroom as well as they do is truly remarkable, and speaks highly of their commitment to the “student” part of student-athlete.  Congratulations to them all!”

Nine scholar-athletes are set to graduate this May.  To be eligible for scholar-athlete status, student-athletes must have enrolled in 9 graded units for the semester. 

Cal State San Marcos fields 10 intercollegiate sports teams:  Baseball, Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country, Men's and Women's Track, Men's Golf, Women's Golf, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, and Softball.  The Women’s Golf team posted the highest team GPA in both the spring and fall semesters:  3.41 and 3.16, respectively.