ALVA, Okla. – The Division 2 Athletics Directors Associate (D2 ADA) announced their 2021-2022 recipients for the Academic Achievement Awards. Northwestern was well represented this year with 77 student-athletes earning the award.

The criteria to be eligible for this award is: "have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale, have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college-level work, have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year, Given the vast experiences institutions have had this year when it comes to participation, all athletes who meet bullet point items 1 and 2 are still eligible as long as they were still an active member of the roster during this academic year."

In total across all of Division II there were 16,639 student-athletes, totaling in 169 different institutions from 24 conferences. The Great American Conference had seven programs representing the conference for academic achievement including 570 student-athletes.

"I am very pleased with the work that our student-athletes did the past year in the classroom as they have been honored by the GAC and by the D2ADA just recently. Their work is a direct reflection of their efforts to succeed and work toward graduation. We have such a wonderful faculty and they work so hard for all of our students to grow in the classroom. Our coaches strive to see our student-athletes succeed as young adults, students and in their sport. This is another great example of the work that our student-athletes do," stated Director of Athletics Brad Franz.

The Rangers 77 student-athletes is fourth most from the GAC overall and is an increase from the 2020-2021 year where the Rangers had 68 representatives.