July 19, 2007

IRVING, Texas - Rice University has earned the Conference USA Institutional Excellence Award for the second straight year, as announced by Commissioner Britton Banowsky today.

The Institutional Excellence Award is given to the C-USA institution with the highest grade point average during the current academic year for all student-athletes in conference sponsored sports. Rice student-athletes combined for an annual grade point average of 3.031, with seven teams representing their respective sport's top GPA. The Owl women's track and field squad also won the C-USA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.

The Sport Academic Award is given to the team in each conference-sponsored sport with the highest grade point average for the current academic year. The East Carolina and Marshall women's golf teams shared the award and also posted the highest annual GPA with a 3.61. Following is a list of the Sports Academic award honorees:

Sport: Recipient - GPA
Baseball: Tulane - 3.070
Men's Basketball: Tulane - 2.820
Women's Basketball: Rice - 2.871
Men's Cross Country: Marshall - 3.250
Women's Cross Country: Tulsa - 3.590
Football: Rice - 2.742
Men's Golf: East Carolina - 3.339
Women's Golf*: East Carolina - 3.610
Women's Golf*: Marshall - 3.610
Men's Soccer: Marshall - 3.320
Women's Soccer: Rice - 3.417
Softball: East Carolina - 3.378
Women's Swimming: Marshall - 3.420
Men's Tennis: Rice - 3.445
Women's Tennis: Rice - 3.444
Men's Track and Field: Rice - 3.099
Women's Track and Field: Rice - 3.255
Volleyball: Memphis - 3.485

Co-Winners