July 22, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The ITA released its 2016 academic awards late Thursday afternoon with both the Vanderbilt men’s and women’s tennis programs earning Academic Honor Team status.
In addition to the team honors, five WT student-athletes and three MT student-athletes received nods by the governing body for their hard work and determination in the classroom.
Vanderbilt’s most recent graduates led the charge in the classroom this past academic year, with five of the eight ITA Scholar Athlete recognitions being awarded to members of the class of 2016.
The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). All varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2015 and spring 2016).
In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: 1.) be a varsity letter winner, 2.) have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and 3.) have been enrolled at their present school for at least 2 semesters (including freshman through senior year).
This is the second year in a row that the women’s tennis team has had five ITA Scholar Athletes on court. Seniors Frances Altick, Courtney Colton and Maggie Leavell displayed leadership on the court and in the classroom, as Altick was named the ITA’s national Most Improved Player of the Year, and Colton named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team.
Joining their senior leaders are redshirt-junior and cognitive neuroscience major, Georgina Sellyn, and redshirt-sophomore and Medicine, Health, and Society major, Astra Sharma.
On the men’s tennis side, Vandy is one of five SEC schools that earned Academic Honor Team status. Seniors Rhys Johnson (Economics) and Kris Yee (Film Studies), alongside freshman Vikram Chari represent VU as ITA Scholar Athletes. Johnson now caps his career as a Commodore a two-time All-American and two-time ITA Scholar Athlete.
