Cowboy Golf Claims GCAA All-Academic Team Award; Wyoming one of three Mountain West teams to earn award

NORMAN, Okla. – For the fourth-consecutive season, the University of Wyoming men’s golf program has been named All-Academic by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), the organization announced earlier this week.

“I have to give a lot of credit to our student-athletes,” UW head golf coach Joe Jensen said. “For how much we travel and the competition we have in this sport, this award really shows how much work they do in the classroom. Not only the kids but I am also thankful for the faculty and administration in Academics that help our student-athletes. It has always been a team approach when it comes to excelling in the classroom and the golf course.”

Wyoming came just short of the President’s Special Recognition list which is awarded for a team grade-point average of 3.5 or better. The Cowboys finished the year with a 3.41 grade-point average.

“This award makes me very proud of our kids. Every team member helps when it comes to awards like this and I hope we can continue this success in the classroom for many years.”

To be eligible for GCAA All-Academic Team honors a college or university must submit the GPAs for each player on its official squad list for the academic year. A program must post a combined grade-point average above 3.0 during the academic year. The Cowboys were one of 90 teams honored from Division I and just one of three teams from the MW.

 

Wyoming Athletics Announces Hiring and Promotions in Sports Medicine

LARAMIE – The University of Wyoming Athletics Department announced the hiring of Dr. Matthew Boyer and the promotions of Scott Knerr, Cole Vertz, Megan Jensen and Jeremy Ross in the office of Sports Medicine on Friday.

Boyer will be Wyoming’s Head Team Physician and oversee the medical needs of the Cowboys and Cowgirls in an in-house role. He previously served in the same capacity for the University of South Dakota and the University of Sioux Falls since 2013.

He also participated in a Sports Medicine Fellowship at Virginia Tech where he covered 19 intercollegiate programs. A native of Laramie, Boyer earned his doctoral degree from Oklahoma State University and completed his residency in Oklahoma City, Okla.

“We are extremely excited about the addition of Dr. Boyer. We have discussed hiring a full-time primary care physician for a number of years and it is actually part of our updated Strategic Plan, so we are thrilled to accomplish this. Dr. Boyer has worked in NCAA Division I athletics so he understands the collegiate landscape and the needs of our student-athletes.” – Deputy Director of Athletics Matt Whisenant

Knerr was promoted from Associate Athletic Trainer to Associate Director of Sports Medicine, while Jensen is now an Associate Athletic Trainer after serving as an Assistant Athletic Trainer.

Vertz has been promoted to Associate Athletic Trainer/Director of Rehabilitation, while Ross has been promoted to Assistant Athletic Trainer after serving as a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer the last two years.

 

 

Wyoming’s Bentz Named to NABC Honors Court

LARAMIE – Wyoming’s Jack Bentz has been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court for his work in the classroom during the 2014-15 season.

A native of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Bentz earned in bachelor’s degree in marketing from UW last May with a 3.39 cumulative grade-point average. He was one of five seniors last season that helped the Cowboys win the Mountain West tournament and advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002.

As a walk-on Bentz played in 71 games during his four-year career. He was named to the MW Academic All-Conference Team and NABC Honors Court twice each. Bentz was recently hired by Charles Schwab and is in training to become a financial consultant.

To qualify for the Honors Court, student-athletes must be academically a junior or senior, own a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher and have matriculated at least one year at their current institution.

 

 

Cowgirl Volleyball Earns Spot on AVCA Team Academic Award List; It’s the seventh straight year the team has been honored

LARAMIE – The University of Wyoming Women’s Volleyball Team was one of 146 Division I Institutions to be named as a recipient of the 2014-15 AVCA Team Academic Award by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

It’s the seventh year in a row that they have received the honor.

The Cowgirls had an overall grade point average of 3.4490 for the 2014-15 academic year.  Wyoming had ten members on this year’s Mountain West All-Academic Volleyball Team and six MW Scholar-Athletes.  UW finished the season with a 23-8 overall record and a 12-6 mark in the Mountain West.

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced that 752 teams earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2014-15 season. The number once again breaks the previous years’ total of 676 and sets a new all-time high for the award.

The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

The AVCA Team Academic Award has become one of the AVCA’s fastest growing awards programs, seeing an impressive surge in teams honored over the past several years. Since the 2000-01 season, the number of recipients have increased every single year but one, while amassing a 476 team increase over the span of the last decade.

Since the award’s inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 752. NCAA Division I recorded their highest-ever total number of recipients, honoring 146 programs while NCAA Division II also set a new record by reaching a total of 113 honorees.

NCAA Division III continues to set new records after 140 schools take home the honor with the Two-Year College category also surpassing their previous high of 22 with 24.

Prior to 2014-15, only 22 teams had attained the pinnacle of volleyball success in both earning the AVCA Team Academic Award and winning their respective collegiate national championship in the same academic year.

This year, the AVCA is proud to recognize four programs that excelled in the classroom and on the court: University of Tampa (NCAA Division II), Hope College (NCAA Division III), Irvine Valley College (CCCAA) and the Stevens Institute of Technology (NCAA DIII Mens).

Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the program’s 23-year history, with exactly 6,878 awards been given out in total.