June 17, 2005

The University of Texas-Pan American Department of Intercollegiate Athletics inducted a record 89 student-athletes into the Bronc Pride 3.0 Club when the 2005 UTPA Spring Semester Report was released on Thursday (June 16).

"We are extremely proud of all our student-athletes," said Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Support and Student Services Tish Brewer. "We had 36 students-athletes earned Dean's List First or Second Honors along with 12 student-athletes achieve a perfect 4.0 grade point average. We are constantly striving to attain a 3.0 grade point average as a department and are slowly closing that gap as we recorded a 2.98 GPA during the spring semester."

The grade point average for Bronc and Lady Bronc student-athletes rose for the 10th time in 11 semesters, climbing to 2.98 from 2.96 during the 2004 fall semester and was higher than the overall UTPA undergraduate GPA of 2.68. UTPA had 89 student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.0 of higher during the 2005 spring academic term, which accumulates to 46 percent of all student-athletes.

The UTPA Athletic Director's Honor Roll, which selects student-athletes that have achieved a combined GPA of 3.0 or higher during both the fall and spring semesters, also rose for the fifth consecutive semester to 61 student-athletes.

The women's golf team captured the department's highest GPA, finishing the spring semester with a 3.459 GPA followed by men's tennis (3.145), women's basketball (3.126) and men's golf (3.097).

Senior Jeremy Salvo (Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada/Coquitlam Secondary School), a member of the men's tennis program, was selected as the 2005 Hibernia Bank/Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year, which was a first for the UTPA Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. In addition, he was selected to the Southland Conference All-Academic Team for the second consecutive year.

A pair of Lady Bronc basketball student-athletes - Stacey Gooden (Houston, TX/J. Frank Dobie H.S.) and Dominique Montague (Gilber, AZ/Central Arizona College) - were selected as Academic All-Independent selections while senior Eric Montalvo (La Joya, TX/La Joya H.S.) represented the men's basketball program. Matt Eichel (Grapevine, TX/Grapevine H.S.) and Otis Powers (Brownsville, TX/Simon Rivera H.S.) were also honored with Academic All-Independent accolades for the baseball program.

The UTPA men's cross country program was honored during the spring of 2005 by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association as an All-Academic Team among all NCAA Division I programs while achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.12.

For the second consecutive year, the UTPA Department of Intercollegiate Athletics graduated possessed a higher graduation rate (41 percent) than the overall UTPA student body (26 percent).

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