By Mikael DeSanto
Sports Editor
A tradition of academic excellence has reached a new height for the student-athletes of St. Bonaventure University, as they finished the fall semester with a 3.29 cumulative grade-point-average to set a school record.
It also marks 11 consecutive years of a collective GPA 3.0 or higher for the Bonnies.
“For the athletic department, I think it is a testimony to the quality of the student-athlete that comes to St. Bonaventure that knows how to balance academics and playing sports,” Tim Kenney, the university’s athletic director, said. “I think that is an important message because that’s why you’re here, is to get your education. Sports is a passion that you do and for the most part going to play professional is not going to be a future for most of the kids, so to work hard on the academics I think is huge.”
Kenney said two reasons stood out the most, to him, for how the student-athletes were able to find such success collectively.
“Number one it’s the coaches recruiting the type of student-athlete that can do that,” Kenney said. “Second is the support we are able to do in our academic support area with Heather McDivitt. We brought on Joel Rosencrance this summer as a second academic person to help student-athletes manage the time demands between academics and playing a sport. We have seen a, quicker than I would have thought, effect of having two people down there now.”
The women’s swimming and diving team led the list of 13 programs with a GPA higher than 3.1, finishing with a 3.558 team GPA for the fall.
Kenney said they and their male counterparts, who picked up a 3.305 GPA, came to the forefront of the success when they were recognized with additional honors for their achievements, though other teams are worthy of high praise.
“The swimming teams boasting up and doing what they are doing, then getting recognized by the College Swim Coaches Association as a top-15 team,” Kenney said. “That stood out big-time. To pick one is hard because I think the group dynamic in and off itself was the most special part watching this.”
But while the success is to be celebrated now, Kenney knows the goal is to continue this level of success and improve upon it.
“There’s the magic bullet. We’ve set the bar now and we want to try to keep it there,” Kenney said. “There’s no one thing we can think of, it is more of a culture. There’s having that culture of priority being on the academic side and balancing it. That culture is what will help us maintain this level. Will there be little dips at times? Of course, we are dealing with human beings.”
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
