UW Athletics Ranks No. 1 in Mountain West Academic All-Conference Honorees

The University of Wyoming is ranked No. 1 in the conference with 74 fall sport student-athletes being named to the fall Academic All-Mountain West Conference (MWC) team.

Not only did UW lead the league in the total number of student-athletes earning Academic All-Conference, but the student-athletes earning the award marked the second consecutive year that Wyoming teams set a new school record. The previous UW best was 64 fall sport student-athletes who earned the honor in 2019.

The five MWC-sponsored fall sports recognized on the Academic All-Conference team are men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, women’s soccer and volleyball.

The Cowboys and Cowgirls topped second-place Boise State. The Broncos had 73 individuals named to the list. A total of 38 Cowgirls and 36 Cowboys made up UW’s total of 74 fall sport Academic All-Conference recipients.

To earn Academic All-MWC honors, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic term at the member institution; achieved a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or better; and be a starter or significant contributor on his or her team.

In terms of Wyoming’s individual fall sport teams and where they ranked among their league institutions:

-- Cowgirl soccer tied for No. 1 with New Mexico, with 20 student-athletes named Academic All-MWC.

-- Cowboy football had 27 individuals earn the honor to rank No. 2 behind only Boise State’s 31 honorees.

-- The UW men’s cross country team ranked No. 2 with nine individuals, trailing only Air Force’s 11.

-- Cowgirl volleyball tied for No. 2 with the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, with 10 honorees. Boise State volleyball had 12 individuals to lead the league.

-- The UW women’s cross country team tied for No. 4 among MWC schools, with eight honorees. Utah State led women’s cross country programs with 12 individuals.

There were 670 student-athletes across the 11 full-time MWC member institutions, plus two affiliate member institutions -- Hawaii in football and Colorado College in women’s soccer -- to earn 2019 fall Academic All-MWC honors.

“We are extremely proud of the academic achievements of our student-athletes,” says Tom Burman, UW athletics director. “To see a trend like we have in recent years, with the growing number of our young men and women earning academic honors, is both a reflection of the types of individuals our coaches are recruiting to the University of Wyoming and the academic programs we’ve been able to put in place to assist our student-athletes to succeed academically.”

He praises the coaching staffs and academic staff for the student-athletes’ success.

“Thanks to our coaching staffs and our academic staff for their efforts in helping our student-athletes achieve at such a high level but, most of all, I want to congratulate and thank our young men and women for their dedication and hard work in earning this honor,” he adds.

The MWC also names an Academic All-Conference team for winter and spring sports that will be released later in the year.

To view the entire list of UW recipients and their majors, click here.