Seniors Evan Garrad and Joe Rund were two of the many UMSL student-athletes who excelled in the classroom in the past year, becoming the first men’s soccer players in school history to garner Academic All-America honors.

University of Missouri–St. Louis student-athletes did much of their best work in the classroom during the past academic year.

It’s true Tritons teams combined to post a record of 467-165-4 with the softball team claiming their fourth Great Lakes Valley Conference title in five seasons. Additionally, softball, men’s and women’s golf, women’s soccer and women’s tennis all earned berths in NCAA Division II postseason tournaments. The women’s golf team advanced to the NCAA Division II Championship for the first time.

But UMSL student-athletes might have had even more success away from the fields, courts, courses and pools where they competed. A school record 101 student-athletes [out of 191] were among the GLVC Academic All-Conference honorees. That was up from 91 last year and 72 in 2014-15. Collectively, UMSL student-athletes posted a 3.24 GPA in 2016-17, and 12 of 13 teams finished with GPAs of 3.0 or higher.

A total of 22 student-athletes had grades of A- or better in every class they took throughout the year, including eight who finished with 4.0 GPAs. Joe Rund and Evan Garrad became the first men’s soccer players in school history to be recognized as Academic All-Americans and were one of only two sets of teammates honored on the first team. Softball player Alex Stupek was a third-team Academic All-American. Women’s golfers Miranda Rohlfing, a senior, and junior teammates Ares Boira, Alexa Capesius and Stefaniya Ivanova were all recognized as Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholars.

“We all cheer when an athlete scores a winning goal or hits a walk-off homer,” Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Kristin Sobolik said. “And at UMSL we also celebrate classroom excellence. Our student-athletes deserve a standing ovation for what they are accomplishing in the classrooms and laboratories all across UMSL. Kudos also goes to our faculty, who are instrumental in our athletes’ success.”