KANSAS — The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) is proud to announce that over 490 student-athletes competing in athletics in the conference in the Winter 2025-26 season earned the Scholar-Athlete distinction. This honor recognizes excellence in the classroom by KCAC member student-athletes who are sophomores or above in academic standing at the beginning of the semester in which they compete, and carry a minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA at the beginning of the semester in which they compete.
Students must appear on the eligibility certificate for the sport and have attended one full year at the KCAC institution to be eligible.
Men's and Women's Basketball led the way with 184 combined honorees, followed by Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving with 124 KCAC Scholar-Athletes. Men's and women's bowling, men's and women's wrestling, and competitive cheer/competitive dance each had at least 55 honorees per sport.
Of our full member schools competing in winter sports, the University of Saint Mary led the way with 61 athletes earning the Scholar-Athlete distinction. Each KCAC full member institution had at least five scholar-athlete honorees in the winter season. In total, the fourteen full member institutions of the KCAC accounted for 347 scholar-athletes. The KCAC had per-sport members competing in Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Wrestling, and Men's and Women's Bowling, and there were 149 scholar-athletes from those per-sport member institutions.
To view the full list of KCAC Scholar-Athletes, broken down by both sport and institution, click
here.
In addition to over 490 student-athletes earning this honor at the conference level, 242 student-athletes from the KCAC competing in winter sports earned the NAIA Scholar-Athlete distinction. To qualify as an NAIA Scholar-Athlete, students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, appear on the eligibility certificate for their sport, and have attended their institution for at least one full year.
The University of Saint Mary led the conference with 39 student-athletes earning the NAIA Scholar-Athlete honor. As a conference, the KCAC ranked fourth in the NAIA in total number of winter scholar-athletes.
For more about the NAIA Scholar-Athlete honor, including the full list of honorees, click
here.
ABOUT THE KANSAS COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and sponsors 28 varsity sports. Founded in 1890, the KCAC is the second oldest intercollegiate athletic conference in the country. As the conference home to 14 member institutions, the KCAC emphasizes commitment, cooperation, high achievement, and working towards a common goal in the act of competition. To keep up with the latest conference news, follow the KCAC on Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram using the handle @kcacsports.
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