SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference released its academic honor roll for the 2019-20 academic year on Thursday, with a league-record 2,646 student-athletes from the 10 member institutions and 17 associate members earning the distinction.
“Congratulations to our many academic award winners,” SoCon Commissioner Jim Schaus said. “These accomplishments are something that we value highly and celebrate widely as much as athletic success. Student always comes first in theory and in practice in the term student-athletes in the SoCon. Academic excellence is the hallmark of our 10 outstanding institutions. Thanks also to those faculty and campus staff who support our students in their success.”
The academic honor roll originated in 1988-89, when SoCon athletic directors established the award as a way to recognize the league's outstanding student-athletes. The academic honor roll consists of student-athletes who participated in varsity sports and posted a 3.0 grade point average or higher for the academic year, were eligible the entire academic year and were members of the final squad lists. The award is different from the academic all-conference award, announced Wednesday, which is determined by cumulative GPA and involves a participation requirement.
Of the 2,646 student-athletes on the list, a record 710 earned the Commissioner’s Medal, awarded to student-athletes who attain a GPA of 3.8 or higher throughout the year. This year’s total number of honor roll selections is 399 higher than the record set last year, while there are 184 more Commissioner’s Medals awarded than the previous record of 526 (since the standard rose from 3.5 beginning in 2015-16), set two years ago. It should be noted that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some schools instituted measures of academic relief this year.
There were also a record number of student-athletes boasting perfect 4.0 GPAs in 2019-20, as 229 achieved the mark to easily surpass the record of 179 set in 2017-18. Mercer led the way with 41, followed by Chattanooga (34), ETSU (25) and The Citadel (23).
Mercer paced the league with 341 members on the honor roll, while Furman was second with 280 and ETSU was third with 262. Each of the SoCon’s 10 full members had at least 176 student-athletes on the list.
Associate members in men’s soccer (16), wrestling (83), men’s lacrosse (165), women’s lacrosse (52) and rifle (19) accounted for 335 selections.
Football boasted the most student-athletes on the list with 410, followed by men’s lacrosse with 267 and women’s soccer with 237. The honor roll includes all 22 SoCon-sponsored sports as well as the non-sponsored sports of swimming and diving, water polo, triathlon and beach volleyball.
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