Joining volleyball, which sported a team QPA of 3.789, as top QPA teams in its sports were men’s golf, 3.582, and men’s basketball, 3.225.

Overall, 10 of Clarion’s 15 sports (women’s indoor and outdoor track and field is counted as one sport by the PSAC in this tabulation) had QPAs of 3.0 or higher, while Clarion’s overall athletic-department QPA of 3.163 ranks seventh out of the 18 schools in the PSAC and ahead of the conference average of 3.09.

“Academics are very important to what we do in our athletic department,” Clarion athletic director Dave Katis said. “I want to congratulate volleyball, men’s golf and men’s basketball for having the highest-team QPAs in their sport in the conference and really our entire department. Our coaches and student-athletes have made a commitment to academics and it shows.”

All three programs that earned highest QPAs in the conference improved their QPAs from a year ago.

Volleyball, under head coach Jennifer Mills, had the highest QPA in volleyball in the conference for the second straight year improving on last year’s QPA of 3.583. The team’s mark of 3.789 is the top QPA of all teams in the PSAC in the three years the conference has tracked the data of team QPAs. Senior Hannah Heeter – Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year – and junior Laura Subject — Capital One/CoSIDA All-Region, – were two of the reason why the Golden Eagles, who were also very successful on the court winning the PSAC West and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Division II tournament while tying the school record with 32 wins (32-5), earned the award.

Men’s golf, under the direction of Marty Rinker, improved from a 3.101 in 2012-13 to the 3.582 last season while finishing sixth at the PSAC Championships and having two athlete earn a QPA of over 3.8 – Jim Brunozzi and Loren Dukate, while men’s basketball, in the final season of legendary head coach Ron Righter (school-record 402 wins) saw a jump from a 3.078 GPA in 2012-13 to the 3.225 this past season, significantly higher than the average QPA in men’s basketball in the PSAC (2.709), thanks in part to Mike Kromka, who was a Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District player for the third straight year.

NOTES – Additional Golden Eagles teams to finish in the top three in the conference in their sport in QPA were women’s track and field (3rd at 3.451) and women’s soccer (T-3rd at 3.425). Five additional teams had a QPA of at least 3.0 including women’s cross country (3.262), women’s golf (3.413), softball (3.057), women’s swimming (3.407) and women’s tennis (3.22) … Clarion’s three teams earning highest QPAs in their sports were the third-most of any school in the PSAC and the most among the PASHHE schools (Seton Hill had seven teams earn the award and Gannon four) … Overall, PSAC teams sported, on average, a 3.09 QPA, an increase of 0.03 from last year and a .05 increase from when the conference started tracking data in 2011-12 … Clarion had a school-record 47 percent (166 total athletes) earn Scholar-Athlete honors at the 24th annual Bob Carlson Scholar-Athlete Luncheon held in early February while 50 percent of Golden Eagle athletes at the time had a GPA of 3.0 or higher … In addition to Heeter, who also earned first-team Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American honors in women’s basketball this past season, three additional Clarion athletes were Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. Kristin Day (Diving) was the Academic All-America of the Year At-large, while Mike Felker was a first-team choice in football and Emilee Gysegem (swimming) was a second-team At-large choice.