• Academic Achievement History | Team Academic Award History | Commissioner's Honor Roll | Academic Medal of Honor
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Belmont University has been awarded the 2019-20 Ohio Valley Conference Institutional Academic Achievement Award. The award is presented annually to the member institution with the greatest percentage of its eligible student-athletes that earn a 3.25 grade point average or higher for that academic year.
It marks the eighth-straight crown for Belmont who joined the OVC prior to the 2012-13 season. Morehead State, the 2011-12 champions, holds the record with 12 OVC Academic Achievement Awards. Eastern Kentucky is next on the list with eight crowns and Austin Peay has two awards while Jacksonville State, Tennessee State and UT Martin have earned one award apiece.
The league also announced the recipients of 17 OVC Team Academic Achievement Awards, which are presented annually in each Conference-sponsored sport to the member institution's team with the greatest percentage of its eligible student-athletes who achieved a 3.25 grade point average or higher. Austin Peay and Belmont tied for an OVC-best seven awards while Morehead State earned three. Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky and Murray State had one award apiece. In total, six different member institutions garnered at least one team award.
The team/institution honorees are:
Baseball: Morehead State
Men's Basketball: Austin Peay
Women's Basketball: Belmont
Beach Volleyball: Austin Peay
Men's Cross Country: Austin Peay & Belmont
Women's Cross Country: Belmont
Football: Austin Peay
Men's Golf: Austin Peay
Women's Golf: Belmont
Rifle: Morehead State
Women's Soccer: Eastern Kentucky
Softball: Eastern Illinois
Men's Tennis: Austin Peay & Belmont
Women's Tennis: Austin Peay & Murray State
Men's Track and Field: Morehead State
Women's Track and Field: Belmont
Women's Volleyball: Belmont
The awards cap a week of announcements regarding 2019-20 academic year awards. It was previously announced that a record 1,627 OVC student-athletes were named to the Commissioner's Honor Roll (for having a 3.25 GPA or better) while a record 293 student-athletes achieved perfect 4.0 GPA's to earn the OVC Academic Medal of Honor.
Due to the extraordinary circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic, spring sport athletes who were eligible and met the GPA requirements, but saw their seasons cancelled (therefore not using a season of competition) received the awards. Additionally, student-athletes who had pass/fail courses listed on their transcript were also made eligible so long as the institutional GPAs are calculated according to institutional policy.