RICHARDSON, Texas (June 29, 2022) – Lubbock Christian University and St. Mary's University claimed the ninth annual Lone Star Conference Academic Excellence Award presented by Balfour. LCU was highlighted with four of their programs named academic champions, men's basketball, men's indoor track and field, women's soccer and volleyball had the highest team GPA in the conference.
 
As for the Academic Excellence Award, LCU earned the women's honor for the first time in program history (this completed their third season in the LSC), while StMU captured its initial men's award as the athletic departments with the highest collective team GPA among its teams for the 2021-22 academic year.  The Lady Chaps and Rattlers will each receive a cash reward and custom trophy.
 
"This prestigious award was established to showcase the league's commitment to academic excellence.  This year we are thrilled to honor Lubbock Christian and St. Mary's for the outstanding academic success of their student-athletes," said LSC Commissioner Jay Poerner.  "Thank you to Balfour for their continued support of this important award."
 
Dallas Baptist University (indoor and outdoor track and field), LCU (soccer and volleyball), and StMU (golf and tennis) each had two women's teams with the highest GPA.  On the men's side, LCU (basketball and indoor track and field) and The University of Texas at Tyler (soccer and tennis) both had two squads at the top. 
 
Western New Mexico University women's cross country was the sport academic champion for the third straight year, while Eastern New Mexico University football, StMU women's golf, and UTT men's soccer defended their academic crowns.
 
The award winners were determined by a point system, with points distributed according to finish by sport in those that the LSC sponsors after a conference-wide comparison of team GPAs. The member institution with the highest team GPA in each sport was named the sport's Academic Champion and earned five (5) points toward the overall award. Each sport's runner-up picked up four (4) points and third-place three (3) points toward the overall award. Any program with a Team GPA of 2.00 and above earned one (1) point. Points for each member institution were totaled by gender and then divided by that institution's number of counter programs in that gender to arrive at the comparison value. 
 
The LCU men's indoor track program, with a 3.1 team GPA, finished with the best GPA for an LSC indoor track program for the second time in a three-year span. LCU's men's basketball (3.52), women's soccer (3.76) and volleyball (3.76) led LSC program's for the first time ever.
The following are the sport academic champions:

Men's Sport	Academic Champion	GPA
Baseball	St. Mary's	3.328
Men's Basketball	Lubbock Christian	3.522
Men's Cross Country	Oklahoma Christian	3.515
Football	Eastern New Mexico	2.696
Men's Golf	Western New Mexico	3.568
Men's Indoor Track and Field	Lubbock Christian	3.1
Men's Outdoor Track and Field	St. Edward's	3.23
Men's Soccer	UT Tyler	3.445
Men's Tennis	UT Tyler	3.813
Women's Sport	Academic Champion	GPA
Women's Basketball	Cameron	3.808
Women's Cross Country	Western New Mexico	3.679
Women's Golf	St. Mary's	3.871
Women's Soccer	Lubbock Christian	3.757
Softball	UT Tyler	3.668
Volleyball	Lubbock Christian	3.76
Women's Indoor Track and Field	DBU	3.463
Women's Outdoor Track and Field	DBU	3.463
Women's Tennis	St. Mary's	3.764

Lone Star Conference Academic Excellence Award presented by Balfour

Year	Men's Award	Women's Award
2021-22	St. Mary's	Lubbock Christian
2020-21	UT Tyler	UT Tyler
2019-20	Lubbock Christian	St. Mary's
2018-19	Cameron	Texas Woman's
2017-18	Western New Mexico	Eastern New Mexico
2016-17	Eastern New Mexico	Texas Woman's / Cameron
2015-16	West Texas A&M	Texas Woman's
2014-15	West Texas A&M	Texas Woman's / West Texas A&M
2013-14	Eastern New Mexico	Texas Woman's