This past school year saw the University of Southern Indiana achieve many goals in the field of play. Both men’s and women’s cross country teams won the Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championship. The women’s basketball team made a deep run in the OVC Women’s Basketball Tournament and hosted two home matches in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The women’s soccer, baseball and softball teams qualified for their respective OVC tournaments, and both swimming & diving teams had impressive showings at the Summit League Championships. These are just some of the accolades that the USI athletics program achieved. Additionally, USI was also officially admitted to Division I level of the NCAA on June 23, a year earlier than originally scheduled.
However, the athletics program achieved equal if not greater success in the classroom. According to USI Athletics, the university received 183 OVC (The teams outside the tournament, including the swimming & diving teams, which received awards from the Summit League, and the men’s tennis team, that took home awards from the Horizon League) Commissioner’s Honor Roll awards which were earned by 154 individual student-athletes. 29 of these students earned multiple awards. To be eligible for these honors, student-athletes are required to be at or above a 3.25 grade point average throughout their sports season and have used a year of athletic eligibility.
In the OVC this year, 1,729 students were honored, (breaking the previous record of 1,718 from the 2020-2021 school year) which featured Lindenwood University (224), Southeast Missouri State (202), Eastern Illinois University (190), and University of Tennessee at Martin tying USI for fourth place (154).
The following teams earned OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll Awards:
USI baseball (20 recipients), women’s soccer (18), men’s track & field (18), men’s cross country (17), women’s cross country (16), women’s track & field (16), softball (16), volleyball (11), men’s soccer (11), men’s basketball (9), women’s tennis (8), women’s basketball (7), men’s golf (6), women’s golf (5) and men’s tennis (5).
The full list of USI Athletic Recipients of the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll Award can be found on the USI Athletics website.
Another notable achievement that USI Athletics earned as a result of their commitment to academics was the Ohio Valley Conference Team Academic Achievement Award. The USI men’s basketball and women’s track & field teams took home this honor for the past season. This award is given to teams with the highest percentage of student athletes with GPAs of at least 3.25. The men’s basketball team featured an even 50%, good enough for their third win in as many years. The women’s track & field team obtained an even higher percentage of 76.2%, their second win in three years.
However, there is one more prestigious award that USI athletes from various teams took hold of: The OVC Academic Medal of Honor. This honorary medal, awarded to 409 student-athletes, required recipients to hold a GPA of 4.0. Over the previous academic year, 33 athletes from USI completed this feat. The various teams which featured athletes that took home this award included the USI baseball, softball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and volleyball teams.
The list of 33 recipients of the OVC Academic Medal of Honors can be found on the USI Athletics website.
The USI Athletics Program looks to continue their run of excellence on and off the field of play as they enter their first official season as an NCAA Division I program.