St. Mary’s University and Texas Woman’s University claimed the 10th annual Lone Star Conference Academic Excellence Awards presented by Balfour.
St. Mary’s earned the men’s honor for the second consecutive year, while TWU captured its conference-best sixth women’s award as the athletic departments with the highest collective team grade-point average (GPA) for the 2022-23 academic year. The Rattlers and Pioneers will each receive a cash reward and custom trophy.
“We’re thrilled to recognize both St. Mary’s University and Texas Woman’s University for their outstanding academic achievement this past year,” LSC Commissioner Jay Poerner said. “Thank you to Balfour for its continued support of this prestigious award.”
As far as individual sport academic champions, the St. Mary’s women’s golf team had the highest team GPA at 3.926, which is also the top GPA in the history of the league’s academic excellence awards.
Lubbock Christian had the most individual sport academic champions with five (men’s basketball, men’s soccer, women’s basketball, women’s soccer and volleyball).
On the men’s side, DBU (indoor track and field and outdoor track and field) Lubbock Christian (basketball and soccer) and UT Tyler (cross country and tennis) each had two teams with the highest GPA. Cameron (golf), Eastern New Mexico (football) and St. Mary’s (baseball) also had top teams. UT Tyler’s tennis team had the top men’s team GPA at 3.822. ENMU’s football team won for the third consecutive year, while Lubbock Christian’s basketball team defended its title.
On the women’s side, Lubbock Christian (basketball, soccer and volleyball) had three squads with the highest GPA. DBU (indoor track and field and outdoor track and field) and UT Tyler (cross country and tennis) each had two top teams. Texas Woman’s had the winning softball team. St. Mary’s women’s golf team won for the third consecutive year, while Lubbock Christian’s soccer and volleyball teams and DBU’s indoor track and field and outdoor track and field teams defended their titles.
The award winners were determined by a point system, with points distributed according to finish by sport in those that the LSC sponsors after a conference-wide comparison of team GPAs. The member institution with the highest team GPA in each sport was named the sport’s Academic Champion and earned five (5) points toward the overall award. Each sport’s runner-up picked up four (4) points and third-place three (3) points toward the overall award. Any program with a Team GPA of 2.00 and above earned one (1) point. Points for each member institution were totaled by gender and then divided by that institution’s number of counter programs in that gender to arrive at the comparison value.
LSC ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARD PRESENTED BY BALFOUR
2022-23 Winners
Men’s
St. Mary’s University
Women’s
Texas Woman’s University
All-Time Winners
| Year |
Men’s Award |
Women’s Award |
| 2022-23 |
St. Mary’s |
Texas Woman’s |
| 2021-22 |
St. Mary’s |
Lubbock Christian |
| 2020-21 |
UT Tyler |
UT Tyler |
| 2019-20 |
Lubbock Christian |
St. Mary’s |
| 2018-19 |
Cameron |
Texas Woman’s |
| 2017-18 |
Western New Mexico |
Eastern New Mexico |
| 2016-17 |
Eastern New Mexico |
Texas Woman’s / Cameron |
| 2015-16 |
West Texas A&M |
Texas Woman’s |
| 2014-15 |
West Texas A&M |
Texas Woman’s / West Texas A&M |
| 2013-14 |
Eastern New Mexico |
Texas Woman’s |
2022-23 SPORT ACADEMIC CHAMPIONS
Men’s
| Sport |
School |
GPA |
| Baseball |
St. Mary’s |
3.456 |
| Men’s Basketball |
Lubbock Christian |
3.532 |
| Men’s Cross Country |
UT Tyler |
3.538 |
| Football |
Eastern New Mexico |
2.869 |
| Men’s Golf |
Cameron |
3.521 |
| Men’s Indoor Track and Field |
DBU |
3.273 |
| Men’s Outdoor Track and Field |
DBU |
3.273 |
| Men’s Soccer |
Lubbock Christian |
3.517 |
| Men’s Tennis |
UT Tyler |
3.822 |
Women’s
| Sport |
School |
GPA |
| Women’s Basketball |
Lubbock Christian |
3.871 |
| Women’s Cross Country |
UT Tyler |
3.667 |
| Women’s Golf |
St. Mary’s |
3.926 |
| Women’s Soccer |
Lubbock Christian |
3.721 |
| Softball |
Texas Woman’s |
3.718 |
| Volleyball |
Lubbock Christian |
3.779 |
| Women’s Indoor Track and Field |
DBU |
3.487 |
| Women’s Outdoor Track and Field |
DBU |
3.487 |
| Women’s Tennis |
UT Tyler |
3.789 |
