Jan. 13, 2010

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Nine of the University of Notre Dame’s athletic programs posted federal graduation rates of 100 percent, according to figures released last fall by the NCAA.

In addition, two other Irish sports ranked first nationally among NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision schools, based on the University’s institutional research.

The federal figures showed that — among Notre Dame’s men’s sports — fencing, lacrosse, and swimming and diving achieved 100 percent scores. Soccer scored 95 (good for first place), cross country/track and field scored 94, and hockey 92 (also good for first place).

Among the Irish women’s programs, cross country/track and field, fencing, golf, lacrosse, rowing and tennis all posted 100 scores. Volleyball scored 92, and swimming and diving scored 91.

Notre Dame ranked second among the NCAA FBS (formerly Division I-A) in 100 scores with its nine. Only Stanford had more with 13 (Stanford had 27 sports rated compared to Notre Dame’s 22).

Eleven Irish programs had federal rates that ranked them first within their sport among the NCAA FBS subset of 120 schools, while four other programs finished among the top 10:

  • Men’s lacrosse finished by itself in first place with its 100 score — followed by Duke at 92 and Virginia at 84.
  • Men’s fencing at 100 tied for first with Stanford.
  • Men’s swimming at 100 tied for first with Miami (Fla.).
  • Women’s cross country/track and field at 100 tied for first with Boston College, Duke, Penn State, USC and Virginia.
  • Women’s fencing at 100 tied for first with Northwestern and Penn State.
  • Women’s golf at 100 tied for first with 16 other schools.
  • Women’s lacrosse at 100 tied for first with Boston College, Connecticut, Duke and Virginia.
  • Women’s rowing at 100 tied for first with North Carolina and UCLA.
  • Women’s tennis at 100 tied for first with 21 other schools.
  • Hockey at 92 ranked first – followed by Western Michigan at 73, Miami (Ohio) at 68 and Boston College at 65.
  • Men’s soccer at 95 ranked first, followed by Vanderbilt (93), Duke and Stanford (both at 92).
  • Football at 85 ranked third (tied with Stanford), behind Duke (89) and Boston College (86).
  • Baseball at 79 ranked sixth behind Boston College (100), Northwestern (95), Stanford (91), Michigan (84) and Minnesota (83).
  • Men’s cross country/track and field at 94 ranked eighth (tied with Wake Forest) — only behind Arkansas State, Duke, Idaho, Miami (Fla.), New Mexico State, SMU and USC.
  • Volleyball at 92 ranked 10th (tied with five other schools) – behind only Akron, Bowling Green, Louisville, Northwestern, Oregon State, Tulane, Utah, Virginia and Wake Forest (all at 100).

The 2009 data tracks the graduation rates of all first-year, grant-in-aid student-athletes who enrolled from 1999 through 2002 (all statistics represent four classes combined). The federal graduation rate methodology used by the Department of Education counts all student-athletes who transfer from or leave an institution for any reason as non-graduates from their initial school, even if they leave in good academic standing.

— ND —