No fewer than 14 University of St. Francis athletic teams were named as an NAIA Scholar Team for the recently-completed 2008-2009 academic year by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) on Friday.

Other Saint teams to be recognized included women's indoor and outdoor track and field (3.12), football (3.07), men's tennis (3.07) and women's cross country (3.04).

For a sport to be considered for the award, the team grade point average must be a minimum of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale with all varsity student-athletes certified as eligible being counted. The team GPA is calculated by adding the total credit hours of the student-athletes in their respective sport and dividing that into the total quality grade points earned in the 2008-2009 academic year only.

"This is a tremendous honor for each of our teams," said USF director of athletics Dave Laketa. "To have 14 of our 18 sports gain such recognition speaks highly of the work ethic that each of our student-athletes put in and how much the academic piece and graduating are stressed by our coaches."

"And, what is even more exciting is the other internal study that we just recently completed, which takes into account everyone involved in the program (including redshirts and student assistants) and covers their overall grade point average, not just the one year. In that study, we set an all-time high mark for our entire program this past spring. "

Through the spring semester, 317 USF student-athletes turned in a combined cumulative grade point average of 3.10, which set a new school record.