Note: Excerpts from NCAA Press Release were used in this story

INDIANAPOLIS -- The University of Delaware men’s and women’s tennis, men’s cross country, and women’s soccer teams have been recognized nationally for their academic success as part of the NCAA Academic Progress Rate report announced Thursday.

The NCAA honored 712 Division I sports teams with public recognition awards for their latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores. A complete list is located on the NCAA website at: www.ncaa.org.

These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The teams recognized this year represent 11.4 percent of the 6,272 Division I teams. The list includes 401 women’s teams and 311 men’s or mixed squads. A total of 192 Division I institutions had at least one team on the top APR list. High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 965 to a perfect 1,000 over the data collection period.

“Congratulations to these teams and their student-athletes for success in the classroom,” NCAA President Myles Brand said. “They are setting a great example for their peers and future student-athletes, as well.”

The effort is part of a public-recognition program the Division I Board of Directors approved in January 2006. Last year, a total of 839 teams were recognized.

The Blue Hen tennis teams are coached by Laura Travis while the UD men’s cross country team is led by Jim Fischer and the women’s soccer squad by Scott Grzenda. Seven of the 12 members of the Delaware men’s tennis team, 11 of the 24 members of the women’s soccer team, five of the 10 members of the women’s tennis team, and eight of 17 members of the men’s cross country squad carry a 3.0 or better cumulative grade point index.

For the second consecutive year, Yale University had the most teams (28) recognized. By conference, the Ivy Group had by far the most number of teams honored (150), followed by the Patriot League (89) and the Big East Conference (47).

In addition to Delaware, other Colonial Athletic Association schools recognized were Drexel (men’s basketball), George Mason (women’s tennis), Hofstra (women’s volleyball), James Madison (men’s soccer, women’s golf, women’s swimming, women’s indoor track, women’s outdoor track, women’s tennis), UNC Wilmington (men’s basketball), Virginia Commonwealth (men’s tennis), and William & Mary (baseball, football, men’s golf, men’s gymnastics, women’s gymnastics, women’s volleyball, women’s indoor track, women’s outdoor track). Associate members recognized were New Hampshire, Richmond, and Villanova in football and Villanova in men’s lacrosse.

By sport, women’s tennis featured the most teams (46), followed by women’s volleyball (41) and women’s golf (39). The men’s sport with the highest number of teams were basketball and cross country (both with 33) and golf (32). This is the first year that basketball led men’s sports.

There are fewer awards this year than last year because there are fewer teams with perfect scores. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent depending on how many achieved perfect 1,000 APR scores. In some sports, teams had to maintain a perfect score over the four-year period in order to be recognized.

Multi-year APR scores for all 6,272 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced May 6. The announcement also will include immediate and historically based penalties for low-performing teams.