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Plymouth football team in the middle of a game
Academics and Athletics: Panthers Profit from the Total Package
NCAA Division III is a level that centralizes academics among athletic performance and Plymouth State goes above and beyond helping students succeed on and off the field.

Results have come in many forms, including conference championships and NCAA national tournament appearances, but at Plymouth State, the word “athlete” does not exist without “student” coming before it.

“It’s the number one reason why you’re here—to get your degree to better yourself and further your career,” says Associate Athletic Director Courtney O’Clair ’04, ’08G. She values the time that students put in the classroom, which transfers to their dedication to maintaining athletic eligibility. Panthers averaged an overall 3.38 GPA during the 2023–24 academic year.

“It shows how dedicated they are to their sport and their grades, to be organized and time manage, and they leave here with the full package,” says O’Clair.

Widely Recognized Academic Achievements
  • Plymouth State captured the prestigious Little East Conference (LEC) President’s Cup in record-setting fashion. The honor is bestowed upon the LEC member institution with the highest average cumulative grade point average among the league’s championship sports. PSU’s LEC student athletes combined for a 3.36 GPA, matching the highest in the 15-year history of the award.
  • A league-high nine PSU varsity athletic teams, more than double the next closest school, were honored by the LEC among its 2023-24 Team Academic Award winners.
  • PSU also topped the LEC with 261 student athletes on the Spring 2024 LEC Academic Honor Roll and 69 spring sport student athletes earning spots on the LEC Spring 2024 All-Academic Teams.
  • A total of 55 student athletes were honored by College Sports Communicators with Academic All-District recognition.
  • Both PSU XC teams were named “All-Academic” by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association last year.
  • Football had the most representatives on the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) fall-winter All-Academic team, with a program record 13 seniors inducted into the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society.
  • Twelve field hockey players were named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association National Academic team, including five Scholars of Distinction, while a league-high 18 Women’s Ice Hockey players were named to the New England Hockey Conference All-Academic Team.
  • Men’s soccer had a United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region honoree, and wrestling had eight members on the New England Wrestling Association All-Academic team and one Scholar All-American.
  • Softball had 11 players named National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athletes.
  • Three Men’s Lacrosse players were named to the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-Academic Team.
  • The Men’s and Women’s Swim programs were named Scholar All-America Teams for the spring semester by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America—one of just two LEC schools to earn the recognition in both genders.

All ten members of the Men’s Ski Team, and seven-of-eight women’s skiers, were honored with spots on the United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team.

Hockey’s Solid Relationship
Men’s Ice Hockey Head Coach Craig Russell sees a solid relationship between on-ice and in-class performance. “I think it’s difficult for hockey to go well and classes to not follow suit or vice versa,” says Russell. “They are two parallel roads.”

Russell’s team has won the MASCAC Tournament five consecutive years on top of six straight regular season titles, including an undefeated 18-0-0 conference run in 2022-23 and its historic first NCAA tournament win in March. Twenty-one players were named to the MASCAC All-Academic Team, and the team averaged a 3.24 GPA.

Skiing’s Extra Advantage
Both Men’s and Women’s Ski teams hold the best GPAs of all sports—3.83 and 3.86 respectively. They have also had multiple representatives appear at the National Collegiate Ski Championships, including an All-American finish last year.

“One of realities of Alpine ski racing for academic and athletic success is learning early how to balance time well,” says Coach Trevor Hamilton. Plymouth State’s skiing program has an extra advantage. “Our training venue is very close to campus,” says Hamilton, referring to Mittersill at Cannon Mountain. “It’s an $8 million facility that we partner with, and because it’s so close, I’m able to offer practices two times a day with the facilities only 30 minutes away. The athletes have breakfast on campus, travel for a high-quality practice, get back on the van, and are back in time for lunch and afternoon classes.”

Tindra Bergstrand ’26, an international student from Sweden, agrees “the greatest strength is how close we are to the mountains,” and appreciates PSU’s academic emphasis. “Some majors have to skip some practices to accommodate their busy schedules and coach is very flexible about that,” she says.

Finding the Balance
Three-season student athletes Niki Monoxelos ’25 and Jacob Gallaher ’24 both see the balance, having been honored multiple times to LEC All-Academic teams in all three seasons.

“If I wasn’t an athlete, I wouldn’t be a good student,” Monoxelos says. “They correlate in a way people probably wouldn’t expect. When we practice, I have to prioritize schoolwork and other important things beforehand. I’m more productive.”

Gallaher points to the accountability and productivity that sport and academics bring. “When I’m not in season, I think I have more time and tend to put things off. When I have practice every day and meets on weekends, I learn to optimize my time.” 

Gallaher serves as a captain of the Cross Country and Track & Field teams. “I find pride in the work I do in school and in practice,” he says. “It helps me take on a leadership role in the classroom in group settings that I can easily apply to the professional world.” 

In every sport, PSU remains student centered first and foremost. “We stand by that,” says Director of Athletics Kim Bownes ’07G, who recognizes that many students wouldn’t be at the University if not for sports. She’s quick to add, “That’s important because when athletes get here, we can help them develop academically and they still enjoy their sport.” ■ Ryan Moyer ’24