Five ENMU teams tops among LSC in overall GPA

RICHARDSON, Texas — Five Eastern New Mexico University programs were recognized as having the highest team GPAs in the Lone Star Conference Thursday, as the LSC office released the 2018-19 Academic Excellence Awards.

Cameron took the men’s award, while Texas Woman’s prevented a repeat bid by ENMU on the women’s side.

The Greyhound women had the top team GPAs in women’s cross country (3.404), indoor and outdoor track and field (both 3.29) and softball (3.68). Pioneer programs had three of the top LSC women’s programs in GPA.

Cameron’s men only posted one top program score with a 2.995 in men’s outdoor track and field, but won on a system that rewarded overall excellence.

Team winners were decided by a points system. The top school in each sport received five points, the runner-up four and the third place three. Also, any non-placing program with a team GPA of 2.0 or above received a single point. Points were totaled for each school’s gender, and divided by the total programs offered for that gender — for example, the Greyhounds compete in six men’s programs and seven women’s programs.

Eastern’s men had the top GPA in football, with its players posting a collective 2.78 GPA.

The Greyhound softball team won its sport’s GPA title for the first time since the LSC started the award in 2014. The team had 11 of its 13 players make the LSC Honor Roll, with seven recording 4.0 GPAs.

The women’s cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field teams have plenty of shared success as all took the top LSC spots for the fourth-consecutive year. The indoor and outdoor track and field teams are essentially the same roster, and six of the eight Greyhound women cross country runners also participate in track and field.

Eastern has taken the excellence award three times, with the women winning last year and the men winning in 2014 and 2017.