Hello all!
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer and are as excited as we are about the 2011-12 academic year. This past season was one of our best years, perhaps
the best, for both academic and athletic success. Some of the headlines included a national championship in men's lacrosse, a national runner-up in women's rowing and two national quarterfinalists in football and women's ice hockey.
What makes these accomplishments even more exciting is that senior rower Bethany Brun and junior men's lacrosse standout Ian Wild (who also plays football) won the NCAA Elite 88 Award, given annually to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average at each of the NCAA's 88 championships. Brun finished with a 3.96 GPA in religious studies/sociology while Wild had a 3.905 GPA in business finance a biology/pre-med major. The Elite 88 Award was begun in the 2009-10 school year. Since that time, Mercyhurst has captured four NCAA Elite 88 Awards and is tied for the most among Division II institutions.
Continuing with the academic theme, 284 of 561 Mercyhurst student athletes had cumulative GPAs of 3.0 or higher last year (50.6%). 196 student athletes (34.9%) had GPAs of 3.25 or higher in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). 49 student athletes earned perfect 4.0 GPAs in the Spring of 2011; 37 were in-season at some point during the term while 27 were in their championship season.
On the athletic front, Mercyhurst enjoyed the following success:
- 1 national championship Men's Lacrosse
- 1 national runner-up Women's Rowing
- 2 national quarterfinalists Football, women's ice hockey
- 10 of 23 teams earned NCAA postseason berths (43.5%)
- 16 of 21 teams reached conference postseason play (76.2%)
- 61.8 winning percentage
- 25 All-Americans
- 72 All-Conference Players
- 4 Coaches of the Year
- 6 Student Athletes of the Year
- 1 Rookie of the Year
Mercyhurst finished 16th in the 2010-11 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Division II final standings. 16th is the highest finish ever in the standings for the Lakers and the first Top-20 appearance in history. The record-setting year also marked an increase of 71 spots from last year's 87th place finish.
With 24 varsity sports representing 25 percent of the student body and over a third of the students participating in our intramural programs, investing in our athletic facilities is essential to the future success of Mercyhurst, and we have developed an eight-year strategic plan to enhance our athletic facilities.
Some initiatives identified in the athletics strategic plan include:
- Relocation of and enhancement of the baseball field,
- Relocation of and enhancement of the softball field,
- Locker rooms for teams which do not currently have any locker room space (baseball, softball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, field hockey, men's and women's cross country and men's and women's tennis,
- Storage space for our athletic teams.
The success of our teams has been impressive, and we want to make sure everyone knows the success of 2010-11.
We thank you so much for your support of our athletic programs and we plan to work even harder in the coming years to merit your continued trust and support.
Joe
