John Brown teams honored by NAIA

For the first time in institution history, each intercollegiate team fielded at John Brown University was honored as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced its 2018-19 Scholar-Team awards, which included 1,939 programs across the country.

The women’s cross country program led all JBU teams with a 3.77 grade-point average, followed closely by men’s cross country (3.68), women’s soccer (3.54) and volleyball (3.52). Men’s tennis (3.43), women’s tennis (3.39) and women’s basketball (3.36) all earned over a 3.25 while men’s basketball (3.19) and men’s soccer (3.12) both made the cut.

Nine Golden Eagle squads haven’t been honored since the 2016-17 season when JBU still sponsored men’s golf. The 2018-19 academic year is another watershed moment for John brown University, following all-time highs in Academic AllConference honorees (63), NAIA Scholar-Athletes (28) and Commissioner’s Honor Roll recipients (92).

“I am very proud of each and every one of our Golden Eagle teams that were named NAIA

Scholar-Teams,” said Director of Athletics Robyn Daugherty. “This award really highlights the hard work JBU student-athletes are doing in the classroom and it encourages our coaches who work so hard with our student-athletes in competition, but also in academics, leadership and character building.”

The Benedictine at Mesa (Ariz.) women’s golf team took the lead this year with a perfect 4.0 team GPA, as Tabor (Kan.) women’s tennis finished close behind for a second year in a row with a 3.89 collective GPA.

Middle Georgia State women’s tennis and Southwestern Christian (Okla.) women’s basketball tied for the third place spot on the list with a team GPA of 3.88. Rounding out the top five was the women’s tennis team for Montreat (N.C.) with a 3.85.

Asbury (Ky.) led the pack with 25 teams represented on the list. Morningside (Iowa) and St. Ambrose (Iowa) followed with 23 teams each making the list.

For a team to be considered for the NAIA ScholarTeam award, it must have a minimum 3.0 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) as defined by the institution. The team grade-point average includes all eligible varsity student-athletes.