The Rock wins big

By JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor

July 27, 2005 Last Updated: July 27, 2005 02:55 PM College

SRU sets school mark for PSAC scholar athletes

Slippery Rock University athletes are winning now more than ever - off the field.

SRU had a school-record 159 student athletes attain Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Scholar Athlete status this past school year by having a quality point average of at least 3.25 at the end of the 2005 Spring semester.

The Rock's previous school record for scholar athletes in an academic year was 111 in 2000-01. SRU fell just shy of that figure with 110 in 2003-04.

"When I was compiling the information for the PSAC, I was hoping for maybe 120 - you always hope for that," said SRU assistant athletic director Carrie Michaels. "When I saw our figure was 159, I was overwhelmed.

"I started telling everybody I saw. This is a tremendous accomplishment."

About 33 percent of The Rock's 492 student athletes earned PSAC the distinction.

SRU had 13 of its 23 intercollegiate varsity sports post team QPA's above 3.0. At least two students from all 23 teams earned scholar athlete status.

Well over half of the men's basketball team had QPA's of at least 2.7 this season. SRU's men's basketball program had a collective QPA below 2.0 only two years ago.

"As an athletic department, we rank our teams academically and the men's basketball team was dead last when I got here," coach John Marhefka said. "I'm a competitor and I don't like being dead last in anything.

"Some in our program are still underachieving academically, but we've made tremendous strides in that regard. We're recruiting quality people. It takes a certain type of character and attitude to succeed here, and that's what we're looking for."

Mason Glick, Dejan Jancic, Corey Nesser and Ryan Yarosik were the men's basketball players who earned PSAC scholar athlete recognition. Yarosik carried a 3.8 and is seeking employment as a teacher and coach.

Glick graduated with a business degree and is now working in sales in Florida. Jancic will be a senior next season and Nesser will be a sophomore.

"These guys are putting their degrees to use, which is how this system is supposed to work," Marhefka said.

The system is working for Bill Johnson as well. Now out of eligibility in basketball, he scored 979 points in just over two seasons at The Rock.

Johnson is only 15 credit hours short of his degree and "he was academically ineligible when I got here," Marhefka said.

"Everybody worked together for Bill. People think he was here to play basketball. … He spent a lot of extra hours in the library during the spring semester when his basketball career was over.

"He had a chance to try out for Youngstown (an ABA professional basketball team) this summer, but turned it down to concentrate on getting his degree. He sent me an email telling me his education came first. … Those are the stories you never hear about," Marhefka added.

In recent years, The Rock has raised its minimum GPA average, SAT and ACT scores for admission eligibility.

"A big reason for our academic success is the quality of student athlete we're bringing in," Michaels said. "Once they're here, we have a good athletes academic support program to go with it."

"The university has made a commitment to improving its reputation of quality students in general," track and field coach John Papa said. "We're all feeling the impact of that."

SRU's women's track and field team led the university with 37 scholar athletes. The women's cross country team had 16 and the men's track team 14.

The school's track and cross country programs have been stellar in the classroom for a number of years.

"We get a lot of athletes on the team with aspirations of becoming physical therapists," Papa said. "That helps because you have to be head and shoulders above everybody else to carry that major.

"We give our athletes the flexibility they need. If they have to miss a practice or a meet because of academics, we let them do that. And our kids are motivated to succeed at every aspect of the college experience."

Tradition doesn't hurt either. Papa has an academic bulletin board outside of his office that lists all of the 4.0, 3.5 and above, 3.0 and above students on his team.

He said 75 of his 100 athletes have been on it.

"Every athlete on the team wants to see his or her name on that board," he said.

SRU's women's field hockey team had 13 conference scholar-athletes this past academic year. The football team had 11, softball 10, baseball eight while women's basketball and men's cross country seven each.

SRU had 12 student-athletes with a perfect 4.0 QPA. It had 103 female athletes earn PSAC scholar athlete honors.

"For our female student athletes to do that is phenomenal," Michaels said. "I mean, that's almost half of them. It's awesome."