UO release – Eight Oregon athletic programs scored a perfect 1,000 in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate for the 2018-19 academic year, according to data released Tuesday, the highest number of perfect single-year scores for the Ducks in five years. Six of the eight perfect single-year scores were by UO women’s programs, including basketball, which reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament that season; the women’s basketball program raised its multiyear APR, a rolling four-year average, from 981 to 990. Also among the six were cross country, which won the 2018 Pac-12 title and finished third at the NCAA Championships, and three teams that were led in 2018-19 by first-year head coaches — golf, lacrosse and tennis. The two men’s programs with single-year scores of 1,000 for 2018-19 were cross country, which finished in the top five at both the Pac-12 Championships and NCAA West Regionals, and tennis. Each of those teams also boasted multiyear rates of 1,000 through 2018-19, earning them Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA last week for being among the top 10 percent in their respective sports nationally. “Our student-athletes continue to achieve at a high level both in athletic competition and in the classroom,” said Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens. “We devote considerable resources toward the academic success of our student-athletes, including our outstanding group of professionals at the Jaqua Center. We are proud of our student-athletes and all they contribute to the University of Oregon, including their continued excellent work in the classroom.” The Academic Progress Rate measures eligibility, graduation and retention each semester or academic term and provides a clear picture of the ongoing academic performance for each team in every sport. Teams must earn a four-year average APR of 930 to compete in championships. The last time Oregon had as many as eight programs post a single-year APR of 1,000 was for 2013-14. The total of eight again in 2018-19 was an improvement over five from 2017-18. Women’s golf coach Derek Radley, lacrosse coach Chelsea Gamble Hoffmann and women’s tennis coach Courtney Nagle all led programs with perfect APR scores during their first seasons as a UO head coach in 2018-19. Those three along with basketball, cross country and soccer were the six women’s programs with single-year scores of 1,000 for 2018-19. That was also the first year for the UO football program under Mario Cristobal, and the Ducks held perfectly steady in the rolling four-year average, at 968. The UO men’s basketball team, which reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19, saw its single-year score jump 21 points, which helped bump up the four-year average one point to 959. The Oregon softball team also enjoyed a big single-year score bump for 2018-19, in the first season under head coach Melyssa Lombardi, going from 911 in the previous year to 968 last spring.
