Wrestling Posts 2nd-Highest GPA in Country Behind Only Harvard

Tristan Warner tallied a 3.97 GPA while double majoring in communication and criminal justice. Photo courtesy of ODU Sports

The ODU wrestling team had the second-highest grade point average of all 79 Division I wrestling programs in the nation for 2013-14. In addition, a member of the team, Tristan Warner (3.97 GPA, with a double major in communication and criminal justice), made the NWCA Division I All-Academic Team.

The 2013-14 Division I All-Academic Top 30 teams and individuals were announced by the NWCA on May 7. Registering a 3.32 GPA, the Monarchs posted their highest All-Academic finish in school history and settled in just behind top-ranked Harvard, which recorded a 3.36 team GPA.

"This is an awesome accomplishment for our guys," said ODU wrestling head coach Steve Martin. "We would like to thank the entire academic support staff, led by Dr. April Brecht, as well as Dr. Adela Roxas, Kathryn Koning and Ricardo Sanon. This would not have happened without their support. To be mentioned in the same sentence as Harvard shows we have arrived academically as a program.

"In 2011, we had the fifth-highest GPA, in 2013 we had the eighth-highest GPA and now we are second in the country. So that is three out of the last four years being in the top eight. In addition, we are very proud of Tristan Warner for making another Academic All-America team."

According to the NWCA, the team GPA was determined using a system that includes 12 student-athletes from each program. A total of 10 of these came from the wrestlers that were entries in the NCAA tournament conference qualifier. If teams had fewer than 10 entries for their respective qualifier, they were allowed to fill those spots with wrestlers that competed in at least one varsity dual during the season.

The Monarch wrestling team has excelled academically in recent memory, as the team combined to post a 3.0 overall GPA for the fall semester this season.

Individually, Harvard and ODU had one wrestler each on the All-Academic team. In March, ODU's Warner was named the sole recipient of the prestigious Elite 89 Award for the 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship. The Elite 89 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships. Warner is ODU's first ever recipient of the Elite 89 Award.