KU honors 280 student-athletes as Jayhawk Scholars for top grades

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas recently honored 280 student-athletes as Jayhawk Scholars for their academic achievements.

Student-athletes who achieve a semester grade-point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale during the spring or fall 2002 semester or both are eligible for the honor. Thirty-seven student-athletes achieved a 4.0 GPA for one or both semesters.

Kansas home counties include: Atchison, Barber, Bourbon, Butler, Cloud, Cowley, Crawford, Douglas, Dickinson, Doniphan, Finney, Ford, Franklin, Geary, Gray, Hodgeman, Harvey, Jackson, Johnson, Kearny, Kingman, Leavenworth, Lyon, Miami, McPherson, Marshall, Nemaha, Neosho, Norton, Ottawa, Pottawatomie, Rice, Riley, Reno, Republic, Saline, Sedgwick, Smith, Shawnee, Seward, Trego and Wyandotte.

"While our student-athletes excel in competition, they also excel in the classroom," said KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway. "We are proud of both their academic and athletic achievements."

Director of Athletics Allen Bohl said, "The number of student-athletes honored as Jayhawk Scholars again demonstrates that KU recruits are not only fine athletes but fine students as well."

The academic excellence of KU's athletic program also was recognized in a recent study reported in the New York Times, citing KU as one of three universities in the NCAA men's basketball tournament Sweet 16 bracket with superior graduation rates. Conducted by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, the study reported that more than two-thirds of the African-American men's basketball players at KU, Duke University in Durham, N.C., and Butler University in Indianapolis graduate. The study measured graduation rates for student-athletes who entered school between 1992 and 1995 and graduated within six years.

KU students recognized as Jayhawk Scholars participated in intercollegiate baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, rowing, softball, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, or volleyball. KU is a member of the Big 12 conference.

The student-athletes are listed at www.ur.ku.edu/News/03N/MarchNews/March31/directory.html by home county or state, with their parents' names, high school alma mater, their sport, the semester for which they were honored and their GPA range, 3.00 to 4.0.

The sports are abbreviated as follows:

BA baseball
BBM men's basketball
BBW women's basketball
FB football
GM men's golf
GW women's golf
RW rowing
SC soccer
SB softball
SW swimming/diving
TW tennis
TXM men's cross country, track & field
TXW women's cross country, track & field
VB volleyball