Twelve Northwestern athletic programs were recognized for their performance in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate program.

Football, baseball, softball, field hockey, wrestling, cross country, volleyball, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s tennis, men’s soccer and women’s swimming earned public recognition awards for placing in the top 10 percent of their sports in the most recent multi-year APR scores. NU, along with Minnesota, led the Big Ten with the most awards received.

The APR measures how well teams retain their athletes and maintain their academic eligibility, with programs earning points for every scholarship athlete who stays enrolled in the school and remains eligible. The final value of the score represents a percentage of possible points earned.  The latest scores, which will be released May 14 along with the full NCAA report, reflect data collected from 2009 through 2013.

NU was tied for fourth among all Football Bowl Subdivision schools in awards received. Notre Dame was first with 15 awards, while Duke and Stanford tied for second with 14 awards each.

The Wildcats’ total of 12 is actually a decline from last year’s 14. But, NU was still well above the low-water mark of 5 it set in 2009.

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