Clemson Student-Athletes Set Record for Dean’s List Students

Feb. 13, 1998

CLEMSON, SC–Clemson student-athletes had a record-tying 2.64 grade point average in the fall semester of 1997. A total of 62 student-athletes were named to the Dean’s List, an all-time record, including 14 students with a perfect 4.0. There were153 student-athletes, representing 36 percent of Clemson’s 427 athletes, who earned a 3.0 or better, the second highest semester on record. The statistics were released Friday by the Clemson Athletic Council.

The women’s swimming team had the highest GPA for the semester with a 3.19, while the women’s tennis team was second at 3.12. It was the seventh straight semester the Lady Tiger tennis team had a team GPA over 3.00.

Coach Bruce Marchionda’s women’s swimmers had 23 students on the academic honor roll, highest in the department and highest ever for a Clemson Olympic sports team. The only totals higher for a semester have been registered by the Clemson football team.

The men’s track team had a 2.65 team GPA, its highest in 14 semesters, while a record 21 members of the team were on the academic honor roll.

The Clemson golf team, which sported a 2.84 team GPA, had six of its 14 roster players on the academic honor roll, highest since 1993.

The Clemson football team posted a 2.07 for the semester, but the team members have a 2.29 career GPA. In fact every Clemson athletic team has a cumulative career GPA over a 2.29 heading into the Spring semester.

Among the 14 student-athletes who made the President’s List was basketball starting center Tom Wideman, his second straight semester at 4.0. He now has a 3.6 career GPA and is an academic All-America candidate for this year. Four members of Jim Davis’s top 25 women’s basketball team were on the honor roll, led by Dean’s List student Marta Forns-Escude.

Among the 16 football players on the academic honor roll for the semester were freshmen Chad Speck and Kyle Young, who both made 4.0. Jim Bundren was on the academic honor roll and he was named to the ACC All-Academic team for the second straight year. He joins Steve Fuller as the only two-time first-team All-ACC on field selection and Academic selection.

Among the other academic honor roll selections were All-American goalkeeper Matt Jordan, a recent first-round draft pick in the major league soccer draft, defending NCAA golf champion Charles Warren, All-America swimmer Wendy Henson and All-ACC volleyball player Michelle Thieke.

The student-athlete GPA of 2.64 compared favorably with the Clemson general student body average of 2.73. It was the third straight semester that the GPA of the student-athletes was exactly 2.64, within nine-hundreths of a point of the overall student-body GPA.