HUNTSVILLE — With the release of grade point averages for the more than 400 Bearkats participating in varsity sports, plus the announcement by the Southland Conference office of the annual Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll, the 2009-10 season goes in the books as another banner academic year for Sam Houston State University.

Student-athletes at Sam Houston produced an overall grade point average of 2.87 during the 2010 spring semester, the eighth consecutive semester for SHSU varsity sports to post a department GPA above 2.85.

During the 2009-10 academic year, a total of 167 Bearkat student-athletes earned spots on the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll.

Five Bearkat sports teams produced combined grade point averages of 3.0 or higher. The top team was coach Brenda Gray’s volleyball team with a 3.32 GPA followed by tennis (3.15), softball (3.13), soccer (3.11) and women’s golf (3.02).

The 2.87 department grade point average marks the 29th consecutive semester for the Bearkats to post an overall GPA above 2.5 and the 36th semester in a row above a 2.3 average (every year since the 1992-93 sports season). The athletic program’s GPA is a mark higher than the overall student population at Sam Houston State.

Director of athletics Bobby Williams and associate athletic director for student services Chris Thompson announced the academic performances Friday.

“Give the credit for our academic success to our outstanding student-athletes and our coaching staff who recruit such quality young men and women,” Williams said. “We take as much pride in our student-athletes’ performances in the class room as their accomplishments in the arena. Each year these young men and women seem to raise the bar for themselves. Chris Thompson and her staff in academics do a great job each year coordinating our student-athletes’ efforts in the classroom.”

Sixteen student-athletes produced perfect 4.00 GPAs during the 2009 spring semester. The 16 student-athletes were John Hale (baseball), Randy Stewart and Jeff Welch (football), Stephanie Pustejovsky (women’s golf), Beau Willis (men’s golf), Anna Ferguson (volleyball), Kelley Sikinger and Katie Wesneski (soccer), Amy Brown, Tomi Garrison and Amanda Lindsey (softball), Jessica Fisher, Kristi Hermes and Jenny Zoch (women’s track and field) and Roger Rueweler and Blake Woolums (men’s track and field).

Other academic highlights for the Bearkats during the 2009-10 included the selection of center Jordan Bowersox from football and goalkeeper Jenny Pence from soccer to the CoSIDA All-America All-District Six honor squads.

Brittany Brooks, senior women’s basketball point guard, became the ninth Bearkat in the past five years to be voted as Southland Conference “Student Athlete of the Year” for her sport.

Ten Sam Houston student-athletes were voted to the Southland’s Academic All-Conference honor squads.

Sam Houston has ranked among the top three in the Southland Conference in Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll selections each of the past six years and has led the league in total selections four of those seasons.

To earn a spot on the honor roll, an athlete must maintain a 3.0 overall grade point average or higher during the semester in which the student-athlete’s sport competes. Sports included on the fall honor roll are football, volleyball, soccer and cross country.

Members of the 2009-10 Southland Conference Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll are:



Baseball — Chris Andreas, Taylor Davis, John Hale, Brandon Kimbrel, Ryan Mooney, Doug Oney, Paul Spinn and Jordan Westra



Men’s basketball — Preston Brown, Josten Crow*, Lance Pevehouse* and Arthur Zulu



Women’s basketball — Ray Alexander*, Brittany Brooks*#, Therese Hager, Britni Martin, Sequeena Thomas and Lauren Tippet



Men’s cross country —  Clint Anders, Joseph Anderson, Travis Kocurek, Patrick Krol, Julius Michael and Blake Woolums



Women’s cross country — Kaylee Brazeel, Kim Brooks, Sara Collazos, Morgan Davis, Alyssa Dooley, Amanda Dunlap, Molly Farrell, Kylie Fitzgerald, Kristen Gallow, Courtney Haggard, Jordan Heggie, Monigue McMichael, Haley Peddy, Haliegh Pustka, Crystal Santos, Dakota Stewart and Megan Williams



Football — Miguel Antonio, Travis Best, Jordan Bowersox*, Chris Brown, Brandon Closner, R. C. Fairchild, Eric Fieilo, Justin Humphrey, Jace Jackson, T. J. Jones, Colby Lange, Chris Lucas, Joe McNelis, Brad Mills, Zach Paty, Matthew Powledge, Sherard Ray, Kyle Rogers, Kevin Smith, Greg Sprowls, Travis Watson, Jeff Welch and Austin Wilson



Men’s golf — Ryan Howard, Fergal Rafferty and Beau Willis*



Women’s golf — Ellie McKinley, Stephanie Pustejovsky, Sarah St. John, Jenna Stene and Landa Stewart



Softball — Victoria Benavidez, Amy Brown*, Lauren Burns, Tomi Garrison, Mandy Gegen, Amanda Lindsey, Morgan Mikulin, Kristen Moehlman, Ashley Nelson, Mae Nowak, Janaye Richardson, Courtney Schoenemann, Alex Survant, Hailey Wiginton, Whitney Wilson, Calli Wood and Tiffani Woodrum



Soccer — Hillary Ackerman, Amanda Biega, Debbie Campbell, Jordan Cherry, Alex Clifton, Neddie Garcia, Shelby Grissett, Emily Jurecka, Meredith Norman, Alison Oakland, Natalie Pantel, Jenny Pence*, Kristen Pounds, Paige Rodriguez, Kelley Sikinger, Ashley Simmons, Adriana Vasquez, Nichole Watkins, Katie Wesneski* and Kirby Zak



Tennis — Federica Denti, Nadya Dubyanskaya, Giorgia Pozzan and Cally Woerner



Men’s track and field — Clint Anders, Leon Banks, Cutter Bernhard, Andy Blauser, Brek Christensen, Michael Courtney, Joey D’Eramo, Clemon Dunlap, A. J. Edwards, Ruben Gutierrez, Jasen Hickman, Scottie Jones*, Henry Jordan*, Travis Kocurek, Patrick Krol, Julius Michael, Tymagic Robinson, Roger Ruelweler, Jason Russell, Jacob Shultz, John Thomas and Blake Woolums



Women’s track and field — Kaylee Brazeel, Sarah Collazos, Morgan Davis, Amanda Dunlap, Molly Farrell, Jessica Fisher*, Kristin Gallow, Jordan Heggie, Kristi Hermes, Courtney Lueders, Monika May, Monique McMichael, Haley Peddy, Stephanie Reed, Crystal Santos, Dakota Stewart, Megan Williams, Allysha Wilson, Tonicia Wimberly, Jenny Zoch and Jessica Fisher



Volleyball — Kim Black, Anna Ferguson*, Jamie Haas, Kaylee Hawkins, Jamie Kaleh, Courtney Laskowski, Kym Loving, Rebecca Swann and Shamira Washington



* — Academic All-Southland Conference selection

# — Southland Student-Athlete of the Year