All 8 CSM athletic teams named NAIA Scholar-Teams

KANSAS CITY, MO. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced Tuesday that 1,658 teams have earned the distinction for Scholar-Teams for the 2016-17 academic year and all eight College of Saint Mary teams earned the honor.

It is the seventh straight year that all of CSM's athletic teams have been named Scholar-Teams.

For a team to be considered for the NAIA Scholar-Team award, it must have a minimum 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) as defined by the institution. The team grade point average includes all eligible varsity student-athletes.

"Our student-athletes are exceptional," CSM Director of Athletics Peter Haze Haring said. "Their efforts in the classroom is a cornerstone to the Flames Athletic Department. The fact of having all eight teams maintain academic excellence for almost a decade is a strong statement of success."

The tennis team led the way for the Flames with a team GPA of 3.72. Other team GPAs were: swimming (3.53), golf (3.48), cross country (3.47), volleyball (3.40), softball (3.35), soccer (3.34) and basketball (3.10).

Arizona Christian's women's cross country team, Indiana Tech's women's golf team and Midland's women's volleyball team all tied for an NAIA-best combined 3.90 grade point average this year. The three teams have been selected to share the title of Scholar-Team of the Year.

The women's cross country team from Wiley (Texas) finished close behind the three with a 3.88 GPA, earning the fourth place spot. Rounding out the top five was the women's golf team from Graceland (Iowa) with a 3.86.

St. Ambrose (Iowa) led the pack with 20 teams making the list. Concordia (Neb.) was next with 19 teams on the list.

For more information on NAIA awards, including the Scholar-Team honor, click here.