While many of their seasons were cut short when the NCAA shut down spring sports due to the COVID-19 outbreak, UC Santa Barbara student-athletes had among their finest academic quarter ever. 

Each of the 19 programs, comprised of 426 total student-athletes, finished the spring quarter with a cumulative team grade point average of 3.15 or above. The department’s combined GPA was 3.462, up from 3.321 in the winter quarter.

The women’s swimming team accumulated the top GPA at 3.737, narrowly edging the women’s volleyball team which finished at 3.701 for the quarter. Women’s cross country (3.669), women’s track & field (3.639) and women’s basketball (3.598) rounded out the top-five. 

For men’s sports, the Gaucho water polo team had the highest GPA and the eighth highest overall at 3.521. 

“For every one of our programs to have achieved and sustained at this level at an institution as academically competitive as UC Santa Barbara, and to do it with everything that is going on in the world as a backdrop, is reflective of how committed our student athletes, coaches and staff are,” said Director of Athletics John McCutcheon.  “On behalf of our entire Athletics Department and support staff, I congratulate our very talented student-athletes. We will remain committed to their academic and athletic success in the future.” 

Overall, 367 of the 426 student-athletes (86.2%) finished with GPAs at 3.00 or above; 296 were above 3.50 and 71 had perfect 4.00 GPAs. 

The impressive academic performance by Gaucho student-athletes is still more impressive when considering that all classes were held online during the spring quarter because of the pandemic.

Here is the complete list of how UCSB intercollegiate athletics teams finished the 2020 winter quarter:

Women’s swimming – 3.737
Women’s volleyball – 3.701
Women’s cross country – 3.669
Women’s track and field – 3.639
Women’s basketball – 3.598
Women’s tennis – 3.583
Women’s soccer – 3.580
Men’s water polo – 3.521
Women’s water polo – 3.460
Men’s track and field – 3.456
Men’s cross country – 3.392
Baseball – 3.385
Men’s soccer – 3.378
Softball – 3.327
Men’s basketball – 3.312
Men’s swimming – 3.310
Golf – 3.297
Men’s volleyball – 3.273
Men’s tennis – 3.157