SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State Athletics teams enjoyed a landmark year in the classroom and was one of the top athletic programs in the Sun Belt Conference during the 2016-17 academic year.
 
The NCAA announced Wednesday that eight Bobcat teams posted a perfect 1,000 Academic Progress Rate (APR) in 2016-17. Last year, Texas State also finished as the runner-up school in the Sun Belt Conference's Bubas Cup standings behind South Alabama, which fields one more team than the Bobcats.
 
The Bobcats had 10 teams with single-year APR scores of 990 or better during 2016-17. The eight teams with perfect scores were men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, women's basketball, soccer, tennis and volleyball. In addition, the baseball and women's track and field teams had scores of 990. Texas State also won the Sun Belt indoor and outdoor women's track and field championships in 2017.
 
Other Bobcat team totals included scores of 986 for softball, 968 for men's track and field, 964 for men's basketball and 962 for football in 2016-17.
 
 "I am proud to say that Texas State is succeeding in the classroom and on the playing field," said Athletic Director Larry Teis. "We not only finished at the top portion of the conference academically, but were among the top two teams athletically as well. For the first time ever, eight of our 16 teams had a perfect APR score of 1,000 while also having success in competition. Hopefully, we will get to a point where all of our teams have a 1000 APR score academically while winning Sun Belt Conference championships as well."
 
Last week, the NCAA handed out Public Recognition Awards to Texas State's women's cross country, women's golf and tennis teams after they posted perfect multi-year scores of 1,000 and nine squads had multi-year scores of 980 from 2013-17.
 
The men's golf team had a multi-year APR score of 993, while women's soccer and volleyball posted APR totals of 989. Women's track had a score of 987, softball had a mark of 986, and women's basketball tallied 981. Other team multi-year scores include men's cross-county (977), men's track (972), men's basketball (963), baseball (945), and football (941).
 
Implemented in 2003, the APR measures eligibility, graduation and retention each semester or academic term and provides a clear picture of the academic performance for each team in every sport. All teams must meet an academic threshold of 930 to qualify for the postseason and can face penalties for continued low academic performance.
 
The most recent APRs are multiyear rates based on scores from the 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years.
 
The Bubas Cup includes 18 different sports and is given to the Sun Belt school with the highest point total based on regular season finishes in sports with a regular season conference finish, or in the Sun Belt Championship for sports without Sun Belt regular season finishes. The Bobcats finished 2016-17 with 118.5 points, while South Alabama ended the year with 119 points. UTA was third with 117 points.