High Point Tops Big South Presidential Honor Roll Standings

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — High Point University had a league-best 76.72 percent of its 232 eligible student-athletes recognized on the 2017-18 Big South Presidential Honor Roll, the conference announced Thursday (Aug. 2).

178 HPU student-athletes earned the conference accolades. The 76.72 percentage led High Point to the top of the Big South rankings for a fourth-consecutive year.

High Point was the only conference schools with over 70 percent of its student-athletes listed, with Gardner-Webb coming in second with 68.12 percent of its 345 student-athletes. Overall seven schools surpassed the 60 percent threshold and the conference as a whole had a 58.69 percent (1,750 out of 2,982 student-athletes) recognized.

“I’d like to congratulate our student-athletes on achieving the first-place ranking in the Big South Presidential Honor Roll for the fourth-straight year,” HPU athletic director Dan Hauser said. “Our department puts an emphasis on academic achievement and we are proud to say that we have reached record highs in both the number and the percentage of student-athletes recognized on the conference honor roll. These achievements are a testament to the outstanding student-athletes and faculty we have at High Point University.”

Beginning this year, new award levels were established within the Presidential Honor Roll to recognize academic achievement, and 187 student-athletes received Commissioner’s Award distinction for achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA in 2017-18, which was an increase of 52 from last year, and each of the Big South’s 19 sponsored sports had at least three 4.0 students. The new Gold Award recognizes student-athletes with GPAs in the 3.75-3.99 range, the Silver Award is bestowed upon 3.50-3.74 GPAs, and the Bronze Award honors those with 3.00-3.49 grade-point averages. The Big South had 403 Gold Award scholars and 412 Silver Award honorees in 2017-18 — a total of 1,002 student-athletes with at least a 3.50 GPA last year and 57.26 percent of all Presidential Honor Roll members at or above the threshold.

The list does not include the men’s lacrosse program, which is a member of the Southern Conference. A total of 36 members of the team were named to the SoCon Honor Roll, released on July 10. That ledger also recognizes student-athletes with a 3.0 or above.

Big South Presidential Honor Roll Standings
High Point (76.72 percent)
Gardner-Webb (68.12)
Winthrop (65.40)
Presbyterian (62.69)
* Note – 7 of the 10 Big South schools had at least 60 percent of their student-athletes qualify for the honor roll.