CHARLOTTE, N.C.- After COVID-19 caused universities across the nation to close temporarily and send their students home to complete the semester virtually, the Queens University of Charlotte Royals faced adversity like champions posting the highest department GPA in program history. The Royals' 3.43 for the 2019-20 season far surpasses last season's record GPA of 3.29.
 
"Our student -athletes continue to amaze me with their resiliency and ability to pivot," Queens director of athletics Cherie Swarthout commented. "COVID-19 could have either been an excuse or a challenge and our student -athletes accepted the challenge moving the athletic department GPA to an all-time high. Consistent with our values, our student -athletes and their coaches exceeded expectations with strong communication, integrity, and character. I am hoping all know, from the bottom of my heart, how thankful and grateful I am for their leadership."
 
In total, 423 student-athletes were named to the Royals Athletic Director's Honor Roll, sporting a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher for the academic year. Of those recognized on the AD Honor Roll, 196 student-athletes achieved a GPA above 3.7 to reach Athletic Gold Standard and 42 student-athletes registered a perfect 4.0 GPA to earn a place in the Athletic Royal Society. All three groups set new benchmarks for the department.
 
The women's triathlon program had the highest team GPA with a mark of 3.82. Women's swimming followed with a 3.77 while men's tennis took the third-place spot with a 3.76. Women's soccer (3.75) and dance (3.68) rounded out the top five team GPAs in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Additionally, Queens saw the most teams in history record a 3.0 or higher as all but one reached the benchmark.
 
Individually and at the national level, Queens' Sebastian Kalk, Lulu Phan, and Logan Witt were honored on the CoSIDA Academic All-District teams in the fall. Kalk was also voted a Google Cloud Academic All-American. Additionally, Cross Country saw 11 individuals recognized on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Teams while field hockey had 15 named Zag Field Hockey/NFHCA Division II National Academic Squad.
 
At the conference level, Queens' Stephen Crotty of the men's track and field team earned the Elite 20 Award at the South Atlantic Conference Indoor Championships while Anthony Raftis was named SAC Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
 
Prior to NCAA winter championships being cancelled along with spring seasons, the Royals secured eight conference championships and three regular season championships during the 2019-20 season. Queens also saw 10 teams make NCAA Championship appearances for the year while both women's triathlon and men's rugby brought home national championships in the fall.
 
2019-2020 Athletic Royal Society

Cheerleading
Samuel Grant
Bailey Lochbaum

Dance
Rebecca Ballard
Annaliese Winnail

Baseball
Garret Crisp

Women's Basketball
Herning Wang

Women's Golf
Sydney Lia

Men's Lacrosse
Drew Flack
Brenden Hennessy

Women's Lacrosse
Allison Conn*
Rachel Perrett
Lexi Willets

Women's Rugby
Jenna Klenz
Briana Meyer

Men's Soccer
William Martin

Women's Soccer
Leanne Bryant
Taylor Ward

Softball
Grace Wesoly

Men's Swimming
Jan Delkeskamp*

Women's Swimming
Francesca Bains
Kayla Tennant

Men's Tennis
Agustin Aran Martin*
Edoardo Bottino
Edoardo Cecere
Sebastian Meum

Women's Tennis
Isabel Fornies Marin

Men's Track and Field and Cross Country
Thomas Bobbitt
Kevin Harrison*
Stefan Kohler
Erick Sanchez

Women's Track and Field and Cross Country
Alexis Dubiel
Jennifer Koehne
Stevie Lawrence-Wrist
Cerys Lee
Haylee Love
Sam Mcinnes

Women's Triathlon
Sam Mcinnes
Sara Diaz

Women's Volleyball
Anna McLain
Gabbi Montgomery
Logan Witt*

*denotes 2018-2019 honoree

2019-2020 Athletic Gold Standard Honorees (.PDF)
2019-2020 Royals Athletic Director Honor Roll (.PDF)