Eastern student-athletes finished the fall semester with a combined 3.16 GPA with 17 of the 19 teams posting above a 3.0 GPA.

The women’s tennis team posted the highest GPA among student-athletes at 3.79, which was the highest GPA for the program in Eastern history. In the spring of 2015 semester, the team posted a GPA of 3.36. The men’s soccer team also posted a program best at 3.45.

Women’s golf followed right behind the women’s tennis team with a 3.68 GPA and the women’s soccer team posted a 3.62. Behind the women’s soccer team was the women’s swim team with a 3.51 GPA and the softball team with a 3.46. The women’s cross country team posted a 3.41 GPA and the men earned a 3.25.

The women’s basketball team earned a 3.41 GPA and the men posted a 2.82. The men’s tennis team earned a 3.40 and men’s swimming earned a 3.29 GPA. Women’s track and field posted a 3.28 GPA and the men posted a 3.17. The men’s golf team earned a 3.19 GPA and the volleyball team earned a 3.18 GPA. The baseball team earned a 3.17 and the football team posted a 2.42.

For the women’s swim team, posting a high GPA does not come as a surprise as the earned national recognition for the fall of 2014 and spring of 2015 for having the highest GPA’s among Division I women’s swim teams.

“I’m a firm believer that I coach student-athletes and not just athletes,” swim coach Jacqueline Michalski said. “With that being said it is always a team goal to have a high GPA. I’m beyond impressed with their dedication to the classroom and in the pool.”

The swim team trains 20 hours a week and Michalski said she gives them all the credit in the world for being able to maintain it all.

Freshman swimmer Lauren Oostman said using her required study table hours helped her a lot with getting her homework and studying in each week.

“It’s very important to me to have a strong start in both the pool and classroom because if I start off well, I’m going to be more motivated to keep up with the hard training and all the studying throughout the rest of the year,” Oostman said.

Volleyball coach Sam Wolinski was in her first year as the coach of the Panthers and made it a priority to do well off the court.

“That’s one of our top priorities is to be successful in the classroom,” Wolinski said. “As a coaching staff (coach Peter Green and I) are supportive of their academic endeavors.”

She said senior Stephanie Wallace and redshirt sophomore Josie Winner were just a couple names who came to her mind that excel in the classroom and are very diligent about their studies.

Eastern had 77 student-athletes post a 4.0 GPA and had 298 with at least a 3.0.

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]