Chad Davis Earns NWCA All-Academic Team Honors; Gardner-Webb Is Sixth Nationally in Team GPA
May 08, 2008 | Wrestling
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Chad Davis compiled a 3.70 GPA and went 33-13 during a strong senior campaign which earned him a spot on the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) All-Academic Team while helping first-year coach Scott Shipman's team to a 3.175 GPA.
"I'm real proud of Chad Davis. He is the first GWU student-athlete on the team since Josh Pniewski earned the honor in 2005 and 2006," Shipman said. "All of our team pushed extremely hard throughout the last year. We push our student-athletes not only on the mat, but in the classroom as well. You have to live a lifestyle to win a national title and you have to live one to excel in the classroom. Our staff expects all of our student-athletes to strive in all aspects of life.
"Our region has four of the top 30 academic teams, and it's not bad for what our teams are trying to do as a whole," Shipman said.
The Bulldogs' cumulative GPA was the sixth highest nationally, as announced by intermatwrestle.com Thursday afternoon. East Region foe Liberty was third on the national list. American and Duke tied for first with a 3.335 GPA while the Flames had a 3.286 GPA. Stanford was fourth (3.269) and Princeton was fifth (3.209).
After GWU's spot, Brown (3.156), Columbia (3.114), Campbell (3.109) and Northern Illinois (3.100) rounded out the top 10.
For teams to be eligible, teams comprise 12 student-athletes, including the 10 wrestlers that were the entries in the NCAA tournament conference qualifier. If the teams had less than 10 entries for their respective qualifier, they may fill those spots with wrestlers that competed in at least one varsity dual during the season.
Davis, who was Gardner-Webb's only student-athlete on the all-academic team, earned a spot on the team due to his athletic and academic achievements. On the mat, Davis led the Bulldogs in wins, takedowns (53), near falls (27) technical falls (4), major decisions (7) and reversals (19).
Individually, wrestlers must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA,
been an NCAA qualifier or won 60 percent of his total schedule
– and must have competed in at least 60 percent of said
schedule. The other way to qualify for the All-Academic team is to
have a 3.0 cumulative and been an NCAA All-American.
For a complete list of teams and wrestlers on the respective lists,
go to:
http://www.intermatwrestle.com/college/allacademic08.aspx
