BRSITOL, Tenn. – For the third consecutive year, King University student-athletes have earned recognition from the Division 2 Athletic Directors Association. A total of 75 Tornado student-athletes earned the honor in 2013-14 to lead Conference Carolinas for the second straight year.
This year, King not only led their conference, but the Tornado had the most student-athletes honored out of all the NCAA Southeast Region foes from the South Atlantic Conference and Peach Belt Conference. The next closest schools were conference opponents, the University of Mount Olive at 55 and Erskine College at 38.
“We place a significant focus on the “student” in student-athlete at King,” director of athletics David Hicks said. “We want every one of our student-athletes to perform well academically, and awards such as this are proof that the young men and women our coaching staff is developing at King are capable of excelling on the field and in the classroom. I’m as proud of these awards as I am any conference championship or NCAA appearance.”
The women’s volleyball team led King with 13 honorees while the men’s soccer and women’s track and field teams weren’t far behind with 10 and eight honorees, respectively. In all 75 Tornado student-athletes earned the distinction, coming on short of last year’s total of 76.
In order for a student-athlete to receive and Academic Achievement Award, the student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, attended two years of college and be an active member of an intercollegiate team during the last academic year. In all, 155 institutions and 6,949 student-athletes were recognized in 2013-14.