Utah State Leads WAC In Academic All-Conference Honorees Again

For the third straight year, Utah State has led the WesternAthletic Conference in number of academic all-league honorees as the Aggieslanded 130 student-athletes on the academic all-WAC teams in 2007-08. USUjust completed its third season in the WAC as it joined the league in July,2005.

Overall, it is the ninth time in the last 10 years that Utah State has hadthe most academic all-league honorees as it led the Big West Conference in2000 and 2002-05. In 2001, the Aggies ranked second in the Big West inacademic selections.

“We have high academic expectations for our student-athletes and having themost academic all-conference selections for the third straight year in theWAC shows they are meeting those expectations, said associate athleticsdirector for student-athlete services Dr. Brian Evans. “This accolade is atestament to the emphasis the athletics department, coaches and students puttoward academic achievement.”

During 2007-08, Utah State had 130 student-athletes earn academic all-WAChonors to lead the league, while Boise State was second with 116, FresnoState was third with 107, Nevada was fourth with 103, and Idaho was fifthwith 101. To qualify for the academic teams, student-athletes must post a3.0 grade-point average and participate in at least 50 percent of the team¹sgames.

Utah State teams that led the WAC in their respective sports include women¹strack and field with 25 honorees, soccer with 16 honorees, men¹s track andfield with 15 honorees, and men¹s golf with five honorees. USU¹s volleyballteam finished second with nine all-WAC selections, trailing only Hawai¹i whohad 10.

Utah State student-athletes presently boast a cumulative composite 3.04grade-point average with 49 percent owning at least a 3.00 GPA.