July 21, 2008

Washington, D.C. - The BIG EAST Conference has announced that Georgetown baseball, women's rowing and men's swimming and diving are three of 23 teams that have been recognized with 2007-08 Team Academic Excellence Awards. These awards recognize the highest collective grade-point averages in each conference sport.

"It is good to see that all the hard work and effort put forth by our players in the classroom has been recognized at this level," said GU baseball Head Coach Pete Wilk. "Academics are priority number one and I am proud of our student-athletes for reaching this level of excellence."

Eight BIG EAST schools had at least one team honored, while Notre Dame had a conference-best six teams recognized. Cincinnati had five teams honored, while DePaul had four, Seton Hall had three, Syracuse had two, and Louisville and Rutgers had one each.

The winning teams included Notre Dame's men's tennis, women's tennis and men's outdoor track and field teams - all of which captured BIG EAST championships in 2007-08. Louisville's field hockey team, which won a share of the 2007 regular-season title, and DePaul's men's soccer team, which was the winner of the BIG EAST Red Division in the regular season, also were among the honored teams.

The winners were chosen based on the 2007-08 grade-point average of each student-athlete that appears on an institution's squad list in a particular sport.