Elite 90 Award Explained

Elite 90 Award
Awarded For:	Participating student athlete with highest GPA at each of the 90 NCAA Championship sites.
Presenter:	National Collegiate Athletic Association
Country:	United States
Year:	2009–10
Year2:	2016–17
Holder:	90 annually
Website:	www.ncaa.com/elite-90

The Elite 90 Award or more formally The Elite 90 Academic Recognition Award Program, originally the Elite 88 Award and later the Elite 89 Award, is an award by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recognizing the student athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average who has reached the competition at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 men's and women's championships across its three divisions (Division I, Division II, Division III).^[1]

Students are eligible if they have achieved at least a sophomore in academic and athletic standing and if they are in at least the second year of competition (in any sport) at their current institution. A student in the first season of play at a new institution is eligible for the award if they sat out the previous season due to NCAA transfer rules while enrolled continuously at the current institution. The student athlete must be on the active roster, and in sports that have limits on squad size, they must be a member of the designated squad size at the championship site.^[1] Grade point averages are determined using a straight grading scale to ensure consistency among institutions. Additionally, only credits earned at the student's current institution are counted towards determining GPA; transfer and AP credits are specifically excluded. Graduate students who still have athletic eligibility may receive the award, but only undergraduate GPAs are considered. In the event of a tie, completed credits are the official tiebreaker.^[2] In sports such as golf and cross country running an individual who qualifies for the individual championship although their team is not competing will be eligible for the award.^[3] Multi-sport athletes are only allowed to win one award per academic year, even if they qualify for the award in more than one sport.^[1]

The award was established as the Elite 88 Award during the 2009 - 10 academic year.^[4] It became the Elite 89 during the 2011–12 academic year with the creation of the NCAA Men's Division III Volleyball Championship, and changed again to Elite 90 in 2015–16 with the establishment of the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship.^[5] The NCAA owns the trademark to the terms "Elite 89" and "Elite 90".^[6]

Two groups of NCAA student-athletes are not eligible for the Elite 90 Award:

• Participants in what the NCAA classifies as "emerging sports" for women, currently equestrianism, rugby union, and triathlon.^[7] These sports are recognized by the NCAA, but do not yet have fully sanctioned status. Beach volleyball had been an "emerging sport" before becoming a fully sanctioned championship sport in 2015–16.
• Players in Division I FBS football. The NCAA has never sponsored an official FBS national championship.

NCAA Elite 90 Eligible Sports^[8]

Notes

• "National Collegiate" is the official NCAA designation for championships that are open to schools from multiple NCAA divisions. In most cases, the National Collegiate Championship is the only championship awarded in that sport. However, two sports—women's ice hockey and men's volleyball—have National Collegiate and Division III championships. By contrast, the men's ice hockey championships are designated as "Division I" and "Division III", although Division II schools can and do compete in that sport's Division I championship as Division I members.
• The list includes only championships in fully sanctioned NCAA sports.

Season	Division I	Division II	Division III	National Collegiate
Fall	Field Hockey Men's Cross Country Women's Cross Country Men's Soccer Women's Soccer Women's Volleyball Football (FCS only)	Field Hockey Men's Cross Country Women's Cross Country Men's Soccer Women's Soccer Women's Volleyball Football	Field Hockey Men's Cross Country Women's Cross Country Men's Soccer Women's Soccer Women's Volleyball Football	Men's Water Polo
Winter	Men's Indoor Track & Field Women's Indoor Track & Field Wrestling Men's Swimming and Diving Women's Swimming and Diving Men's Ice Hockey Men's Basketball Women's Basketball	Men's Indoor Track & Field Women's Indoor Track & Field Wrestling Men's Swimming and Diving Women's Swimming and Diving Men's Basketball Women's Basketball	Men's Indoor Track & Field Women's Indoor Track & Field Wrestling Men's Swimming and Diving Women's Swimming and Diving Men's Ice Hockey Women's Ice Hockey Men's Basketball Women's Basketball	Women's Bowling Fencing (coeducational team sport) Men's Gymnastics Women's Gymnastics Women's Ice Hockey Rifle (team sport open to both sexes) Skiing (coeducational team sport)
Spring	Baseball (men only) Men's Golf Women's Golf Men's Lacrosse Women's Lacrosse Men's Outdoor Track & Field Women's Outdoor Track & Field Rowing (women only) Softball (women only) Men's Tennis Women's Tennis	Baseball (men only) Men's Golf Women's Golf Men's Lacrosse Women's Lacrosse Men's Outdoor Track & Field Women's Outdoor Track & Field Rowing (women only) Softball (women only) Men's Tennis Women's Tennis	Baseball (men only) Men's Golf Women's Golf Men's Lacrosse Women's Lacrosse Men's Outdoor Track & Field Women's Outdoor Track & Field Rowing (women only) Softball (women only) Men's Tennis Women's Tennis Men's Volleyball	Women's Beach Volleyball Men's Volleyball Women's Water Polo

External links

• Official web listing

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Elite 90 Academic Recognition Award Program . April 2, 2017 . National Collegiate Athletic Association.
2. Web site: NCAA Salutes Elite 88 Award Winners From Fall Championships . April 4, 2011 . January 7, 2011 . .
3. Web site: NCAA Elite 88TM Academic Award Nomination Form - Division I . April 4, 2011 . .
4. Web site: Elite 88TM Academic Recognition Award Program . April 4, 2011 . October 26, 2010 . . Strawley, Jennifer .
5. NCAA DII, DIII membership approves Sand Volleyball as 90th championship . National Collegiate Athletic Association . January 17, 2015 . March 23, 2015.
6. Web site: NCAA Trademarks . November 20, 2011 . March 11, 2011 . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100922002159/http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/corp_relations/CorpRel/Corporate+Relationships/Corporate+Alliances/Trademarks.html?pageDesign=Printer+Friendly+General+Content+Layout . September 22, 2010 . mdy .
7. Web site: NCAA Women's Sports Inventory . National Collegiate Athletic Association . March 23, 2015.
8. Web site: NCAA Division I Elite 88™ Deadlines . April 4, 2011 . .