MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois Athletics Department announced that 21 Leatherneck student-athletes earned a perfect 4.0 GPA during the Fall 2012 semester. In addition, 12 teams recorded a semester GPA above 3.0.

The Athletics Department overall semester GPA was 2.97, once again better than the University's GPA of 2.93. The student-athletes' cumulative GPA continued above the 3.0 mark, now at 3.03 following the Fall 2012 semester.

Of the 436 student-athletes enrolled last semester, 227 recorded a semester 3.0 GPA or higher - a 52 percent rate - and 88 Leathernecks earned University Honors.

Six of the 21 student-athletes that earned a perfect 4.0 GPA last fall came from the Women's Soccer team. Women's Basketball had four student-athletes at 4.0 for the semester, three came from Football, and two each from Men's Track/Field and Men's Swimming.

The Leatherneck Women's Soccer team earned the top honor last fall, posting a team GPA of 3.70. Eight other women's programs finished above 3.0 for the semester: Volleyball (3.46), Golf (3.33), Basketball (3.32), Cross Country (3.23), Softball (3.12), Tennis (3.1), Track and Field (3.07) and Swimming (3.07).

On the men's side, Cross Country (3.20) had the top team GPA followed by Golf (3.12) and Baseball (3.02) all above the 3.0 mark during Fall 2012.

 "Every semester I credit the work of Lisa Melz-Jennings and her staff in the Athletic Academic Services Department along with our coaching staffs, and deservingly so because they continue emphasizing success in academics as well as athletics," said Director of Athletics Dr. Tim Van Alstine. "The teams' cumulative grade point averages are also worth noting, once again surpassing the 3.0 threshold at 3.03. A couple of academic trends also continued last fall. Our department semester GPA once again surpassed the University's, and we had better than 50 percent of our student-athletes earn a 3.0 GPA or higher. I congratulate our student-athletes for a successful fall and am looking forward to an even better spring semester."

Student-Athletes with 4.0 GPA in Fall 2012 Semester

Amber Davis (Women's Soccer)

Josh Davis (Men's Swimming)

Yves Dietrich (Men's Soccer)

Keith Enderlein (Football)

Shawn Farrar (Men's Swimming)

Tyler Farrell (Baseball)

Mackenzie Gray (Women's Track and Field)

Sarah Hall (Women's Soccer)

Tiara Herron (Women's Soccer)

Jimmy Holtschlag (Football)

Rebecca Henricson (Women's Basketball)

Jordan Jackson (Volleyball)

Lindsey Kuitse (Women's Soccer)

Matt Leal (Men's Track and Field)

Jeff Liles (Men's Track and Field)

Ashley Luke (Women's Basketball)

Justin Morgan (Football)

Tori Niemann (Women's Basketball)

Paula Prpich (Women's Soccer)

Liz Skotowski (Women's Basketball)

Hannah Van Eendenburg (Women's Soccer)

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