NATCHITOCHES – Three Northwestern State athletic programs earned perfect scores for the 2018-19 year in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate report released earlier this month, placing the overall department APR in the upper half of the Southland Conference and among Louisiana Division I athletic programs.
 
The NSU men's cross country team tallied its ninth perfect score all-time and its fifth straight 1,000 mark while the NSU volleyball team collected its second straight 1,000 and third in the past four years. The Lady Demon track and field squad earned its second perfect mark, doing so for the first time since the 2015-16 academic year.
 
"Congratulations are in order to all NSU teams for another strong NCAA APR report, and, in particular, to the men's cross country, women's track and volleyball programs, for their perfect 2018-19 APR scores," said Director of Athletics Greg Burke. "The message which resonates from noteworthy academic accomplishments like this to current and future student-athletes is that the environment and support for academics at NSU is a high priority. Our coaches and staff value the importance of preparing student-athletes for life beyond their undergraduate years and it's nice to have statistics like this most recent APR report to validate that perspective."
 
In addition to the three programs that nailed down perfect APR scores, the Demons baseball program posted a 991 mark, the second-best score in program history behind only a perfect 2010-11 tally.
 
The Northwestern State athletic department as a whole notched a 971 APR, a mark that stood fourth among Louisiana schools and fifth in the Southland Conference.
 
Among multi-year data for the current cohort, the Demon cross country team leads both the Southland Conference and Louisiana teams with a 1,000 mark while the Lady Demon track and field squad's 991 tally leads Louisiana schools and is second among Southland teams.
 
The Demon baseball program's 981 multi-year mark stands second in the state and third in the conference while the Demon football team's 961 score stands second in the state and third in the conference. Both softball (987) and men's basketball (967) had multi-year scores that placed them third among all Louisiana Division I programs.
 
In addition to those three teams, NSU volleyball (989), women's cross country (988) and tennis (983) all posted multi-year APR rates above 980.
 
"As is the case with any win on the field of competition, the continued academic success for NSU Athletics is a team effort," Burke said. "Our academic and compliance staffs, Faculty Athletic Representative (Jody Biscoe) and faculty all deserve credit for the guidance and encouragement they provide for student-athletes."
 
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility and retention and provides a measure of each Division I team's performance compared to peers.

Since the APR's creation in 2003, NSU is among a relatively small group of institutions that have never received public warnings or penalties for any sport falling below the benchmark score, initially 925, now 930.