ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Drake University athletics finished as the runner-up in the race for the 2024-25 Missouri Valley Conference All-Academic Award, thanks to the efforts of over 250 student-athletes, the league announced this morning.
The Bulldogs were behind only Belmont in the final All-Academic Award standings and were one of four institutions in The Valley to post a collective grade point average of 3.500 or higher. The top four finishers are listed below.
| School |
GPA |
| Belmont |
3.573 |
| Drake |
3.520 |
| Indiana State |
3.513 |
| Northern Iowa |
3.500 |
With this placement, Drake became the only school in the Missouri Valley Conference to place inside the top three of the final standings for the MVC All-Academic Award and MVC All-Sports Championship.
"Bulldogs everywhere should take immense pride in these accomplishments by our student-athletes," Drake Athletics Director
Brian Hardin said. "Drake University is a truly special place where you can not only obtain a world-class education, but also experience premier athletics, both as a participant and a spectator. We are incredibly proud of the continued effort by our entire student and staff populations in their pursuit of sustained excellence in competition and the classroom."
All Drake teams held grade point averages greater than 3.22. Among the women's teams, basketball posted the top mark with a collective GPA of 3.75. Women's golf (3.63) and women's soccer (3.62) followed. On the men's side, soccer boasted a 3.49 team GPA, just ahead of cross country/track & field (3.35) and tennis (3.30).
Four teams (men's basketball, women's basketball, women's golf, and women's XC/TF) earned their best semester GPA in Drake's recorded history while rowing, and both men's and women's soccer posted their second-best team GPA marks on record.
Belmont University's first-place finish marked its third top placement in as many years.
Individual student-athletes were recognized on individual lists by the Missouri Valley Conference. 188 Bulldogs were named to the 2024-25 MVC Honor Roll while 81 earned the prestigious Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award and 15 standouts received the Board of Directors Academic Excellence Award.
For the MVC Honor Roll, a student-athlete must have recorded a minimum 3.2 grade point average for a specified term, been a member of an athletics team, and been enrolled full time during the term in which they earned the honor. The Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award requires a minimum grade point average of 3.5 for each of the previous two semesters, a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2, and participation in athletics for a minimum of two years. Finally, the more exclusive Board of Directors Academic Excellence Award requires a minimum 3.8 cumulative GPA, participation in athletics for a minimum of two years, and the student-athlete must be within 18 hours of graduation by the end of the spring semester.
