Virginia Honored As One of NCAA's Top Wrestling Academic Programs
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May 21, 2013
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia wrestling program once again has been honored as one of the top academic teams in college wrestling, as the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) has announced its annual Division I All-Academic Top 30 Teams and Individual All-Academic wrestling team for the 2012-13 wrestling season.
Virginia placed eight of its wrestlers on the 2012-13 NWCA All-Academic Team – twice as many as any other program in the nation. As a team, Virginia recorded the fifth-highest grade-point average of any Division I wrestling program, finishing with a cumulative team GPA of 3.239.
“We are so thrilled that our guys are being recognized for their hard work in the classroom,” Virginia head coach Steve Garland said. “Our team has been striving for academic excellence for a long time so to see it all come together like this is very rewarding. All of the guys on this list have given every bit of themselves for our University and our University should be proud. The mission when they got here was simple – to become a better version of yourself by the time you leave. Well, mission accomplished.”
Stephen Doty (R-Jr., St. Louis, Mo.), Jon Fausey (R-Jr., Dalmatia, Pa.), Jedd Moore (R-Sr., Mount Vernon, Ohio), Mike Salopek (R-Sr., North Huntingdon, Pa.), Matt Snyder (R-Sr., Lewistown, Pa.), Joe Spisak (R-So., Cleveland, Ohio), Nick Sulzer (R-So., Cleveland, Ohio) and Derek Valenti (R-Sr., Newton, N.J.) all were honored on the team.
Snyder had the second-highest grade-point average of any wrestling student-athlete in the nation, boasting a 3.95 cumulating GPA. Moore and Sulzer each were All-Americans at the 2013 NCAA Championships, while all eight UVa honorees also qualified for NCAAs this season.
“The NWCA All-Academic Team and Individual Team is one of the best acknowledgements that we can give to our coaches and athletes at the end of a physically grueling season,” said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. “These young men have proved that they are not only talented competitors but are leaders in the classroom as well. The NWCA Board of Directors and staff look forward to watching these student-athletes continue their success at the collegiate level and eventually as the leaders of the future once they earn their college degrees.”
Division I Wrestling – Top 5 GPA
1. Harvard, 3.418
2. Nebraska, 3.3208
3. Stanford, 3.252
4. Indiana, 3.241
5. Virginia, 3.239