Red Dragon athletes raise the bar for academic excellence
06/25/2024
A record 287 SUNY Cortland student athletes recently earned a spot on the State University of New York Athletic Conference’s 2023-24 academic honor roll. Three of them made the list twice because they compete in more than one sport, raising the total number of awards to 290.
The athletes’ stellar academic performance wasn’t a fluke. It’s a trend.
The annual number of SUNY Cortland athletes earning the SUNYAC’s academic honors has more than doubled since the honor roll was created eight years ago, rising steadily almost every academic year from 166 in 2016-17.
“Our Red Dragon teams work hard in competition and in the classroom, and this year’s historic academic achievement is further proof,” President Erik J. Bitterbaum said. “I am very proud of our student-athletes, coaches and administrators. Together, they have built a model for Division III that defines academic and athletic excellence.”
To make the honor roll, student athletes must maintain a minimum 3.3 cumulative grade point average.
SUNY Cortland captured nine conference championships in 2023-24, including eight SUNYAC banners, as well as the SUNYAC Commissioner’s Cup for overall sports excellence for the 18th time overall and the first time since 2013-14.
Previous totals were 166 in 2016-17, 174 in 2017-18, 210 in 2018-19, 253 in 2019-20, 268 in 2020-21, 267 in 2021-22 and 283 in 2022-23.
Currently, about 750 SUNY Cortland students compete in 10 Division III sports.
Cortland’s 290 academic awards are broken down by sport as follows:
Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field - 29
Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field - 29
Football - 20
Men's Lacrosse - 18
Women’s Gymnastics - 17
Men’s Soccer - 17
Women’s Ice Hockey - 16
Women’s Soccer - 16
Women’s Lacrosse - 13
Men’s Swimming and Diving - 13
Women’s Volleyball - 13
Field Hockey - 12
Men’s Ice Hockey - 12
Women’s Swimming and Diving - 12
Baseball - 10
Softball - 10
Wrestling - 9
Women’s Golf - 7
Women’s Tennis - 7
Women’s Basketball - 6
Men’s Basketball - 4
All of Cortland's sports are honored, even if they are not sports sponsored by the SUNYAC.
SUNY Cortland’s 2023-34 student-athlete honorees are listed on the SUNYAC website.
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