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New Academic Excellence standard set for second year in a row by Pronghorn Athletes

Nov 22, 2017 | 11:27 AM

LETHBRIDGE – U SPORTS honors student athletes who excel in sport at the University level, while maintaining an 80% average in academics, as Academic All-Canadians every year.

For the second year in a row, University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletes have set a new standard.

74 Pronghorn student-athletes achieved the honour of being named Academic All-Canadians this past year, up from 63 last year and 46 the year before.

A release from the university states this is an outstanding accomplishment considering the amount of time student-athletes commit to training.

These 74 Pronghorns account for more than 32 per cent of the school’s eligible varsity athletes achieving this prestigious status.

Leading the way for the men’s side was the hockey team with nine athletes receiving the distinction, while men’s basketball had three athletes, men’s soccer had six, men’s swimming had seven, and men’s track had three athletes.

On the women’s side the soccer team led the way with 12 members reaching All-Canadian status, while women’s basketball had five athletes, women’s hockey had seven, women’s rugby had eight, women’s swimming had five, and women’s track had nine.

The university will recognize these outstanding student-athletes at a dinner hosted by University President Dr. Mike Mahon and his wife Maureen on Nov. 22.

Sport and Recreation Executive Director Ken McInnes says they’re incredibly proud of the accomplishments of their 74 Academic All-Canadians.

“This is a new level of accomplishment for us in Pronghorn Athletics. I am even more impressed with the culture our coaches and this group of athletes has created that fosters this drive towards academic excellence across Pronghorn Athletics,” McInnes added. “Our success is also the University’s success as it recognized the hard work of our Faculty and University staff to support the efforts of our student athletes.”

The 2016-17 Pronghorn Academic All-Canadians are also recipients of the Deb Steacy AAC Scholarship.

Since the inception of the All-Canadian program in 1990, 986 Pronghorn varsity athletes have been named Academic All-Canadians.