Currently Cardinal, 5/19/20: Stanford athletes are academic leaders

So we didn’t have any sports this spring season and we lost the postseason for the winter sports (for the most part). Yeah, that has stung a bit as we all learned to navigate our coronavirus pandemic world we lived in. And though as the world starts to reopen its sporting events with limited fans or no fans, we’re still left with a lost season for the spring sports and lost championship season for winter sports.

And yet, the Stanford Cardinal are racking up awards during this time. Granted, they’re not because on on-field success, but rather, it’s because of how dominant your Cardinal athletes were in the classroom during their seasons.

Stanford was recognized recently as having 16 different athletic programs who received the Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Award. Those 16 teams (10 from the men’s athletic programs, six from the women) all posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all programs across the country in their respective sports.

That was the No. 1 figure nationally, followed by Northwestern who had 14, Notre Dame who had 13 and Arizona State who had 12.

The 16 teams recognized from Stanford were the men’s basketball, women’s basketball, beach volleyball, men’s cross country, men’s fencing, field hockey, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s soccer, softball, men’s tennis, men’s track and field, men’s water polo, women’s water polo and wrestling.

In a ridiculous set of facts from all of this, Stanford men’s golf and women’s water polo were also national champions. That’s ridiculous because only 10 total national champions were also recognized in the world of academia, and Stanford having two is, well, equal to 20% of the entire list of national champs recognized.

The football team was one of just 13 FBS schools recognized including just one of 10 in the Power-5. Women’s basketball was just one of two in the Pac-12 and one of eight in the Power-5 to be recognized.

Needless to say, it’s a great day to say: Stanford is the top student-athlete university in the country. And it’s not even close.

Here’s what else is happening from your Stanford Cardinal athletics:

In softball or space, Teaghan Cowles puts the team first

The top 10 plays in the backfield of the David Shaw era

Men’s swimming & diving and gymnastic programs earn postgraduate scholarships

Three Stanford Cardinal softball players named to Academic All-District Team

Go Card!