For the fourth straight semester, Oakland University student-athletes lead the Horizon League in Honor Roll selections. The Golden Grizzlies saw 125 student-athletes meet the honor roll benchmark, placing them above all other schools in the conference.

Since joining the Horizon League in 2014, Oakland has been the leaders of the conference in every semester in honor roll selections from their student-athletes.

Holly Kerstner, Associate Athletics Director for Student Services and Senior Woman Administrator at Oakland University, is extremely pleased with the way OU student-athletes have performed in the classroom.

“I am incredibly proud, and while we have high expectations for our student-athletes and express the importance of academics, they carry out the hard work which leads to them continuing to lead the league,” Kerstner said.

“I believe we have a strong staff that stresses the importance of athletics, academics and an incredible experience as a whole here at Oakland. We tie those three areas into everything we do, and we have dedicated student-athletes who are not only competitive on the field, court, track, and in the pool, but also in the classroom.”

In order to qualify for the honor roll, student-athletes must participate in one of the 19 league sports in the current season, earn a minimum grade point average of 3.2 and complete three semesters at the university as a full-time student.

In this past spring honor toll selection, the Golden Grizzlies led the pack by only six selections, topping Valparaiso who finished second on the list. Milwaukee, Wright State and Detroit all followed closely after.

Oakland had 14 of their sports contain student-athletes that made the honor roll.

Women’s track and field and cross country led the way in selections with 17. Women’s swimming, soccer, and volleyball all finished closely behind, while the other ten sports finished just below to round out the list.

Jessica Dood, a current volleyball player at OU and honor roll selection, understands how significant the accomplishment is and what it means to the university and the students.

“I think it’s awesome that Oakland has led the Horizon League in academics for as long as we’ve been apart of this conference,” Dood said.

“It’s a great feeling to not only be a part of a community that is succeeding in athletics, but also knowing that we are leading the conference academically, which makes being a part of Oakland athletics that much better and even more rewarding.”

OU looks to continue the success of honor roll selections and keep their streak of being on top going as they enter into the next school year.

“Success is contagious and every person loves to feel that they are in the number one spot,” said Kerstner.