After setting a “bold and aggressive” five-year academic plan in 2022, Wichita State Athletics and student athletes have reached a seemingly “unattainable” set of academic goals according to Gretchen Torline, the director of Athletic Academic Services.

The conclusion of the spring 2024 semester yielded a 3.399 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) by student athletes and signaled the last semester before the halfway point of the initiative.

“I can remember back when I started, a million years ago, that we were just … so happy to stay at a 3.0 (department-wide GPA average),” Torline said. “We thought if we could ever get to a 3.2 (GPA) that would be great … and now we’re at the 3.4 (GPA).”

While student athlete GPAs faltered last semester — from 3.45 average to a 3.399 — overall, student athletes have continued to perform “above average,” according to Torline.

Athletic Director Kevin Saal’s five year plan asked student athletes to achieve at least a 3.0 average GPA every semester for 10 semesters, a 3.30 average in five different semesters and a 3.4 average for at least one semester.

“(When) Saal challenged us to that, I was not very open to it in that I didn’t think it was attainable,” Torline said. “(But) it is attainable, and I think that we’ve proven that we have done that … so now it’s kind of a point of pride for us.”

Since spring 2022, student athlete GPAs have, for the most part, continued to increase with the exception of spring 2024. Despite decreasing, the spring 2024 3.399 average is still the third highest GPA in WSU Athletics history, trailing a GPA average of 3.406 in spring 2023 and 3.45 achieved in fall 2023.

Strategies for academic success

For student athletes, achieving these grade point averages comes with a few sacrifices, some adjustments and plenty of hard work. 

Whether it’s transfer students or freshmen, like volleyball’s Nadia Wasilewski and Grace Hett, spending an afternoon in mandatory study hall or upperclassmen seeking mentoring or other academic help from WSU Athletics’ designated tutors, Torline said there’s no shortage of resources when it comes to stimulating academic success.

“I know when I was in school, I would have loved to have had somebody sit down with me,” Torline said. “So we do have that, and that’s been very successful.”

Student athletes, whether new or returning, are also constantly reminded that staying ahead is a necessity, especially during their game season. 

“Staying ahead is kind of important … and not procrastinating. As much as it sucks, you have to just do it,” Wasilewski said. “They (athletic academic staff and faculty) always make sure that there’s resources available. I haven’t used any of them yet, but they make sure that if you need help you’re going to get it.”

In addition to mandatory study hall for new athletes and access to mentors and tutors, Torline and other athletic academic services staffers check in with professors to track the grades of student athletes and catch issues early.

“We really are focused on (helping students get) their degree and doing well while they’re here not just, you know, making average grades and getting their degree,” Torline said. “We do try to play that, you know, parent role, but we’re not enabling them … It’s overwhelming to be a student athlete with everything that they have going on, and we’re just here to help them.”

Torline said that aside from “tremendous support” from the athletic department, coaches and administration, student athletes have been receiving the same message: “Go above and beyond and be the best that they can be.”

“I wish I could say that we did something magical, but really, we kind of challenged the student athletes to go above and beyond,” Torline said. “I think we just really have done what we’ve always done.”

Success and sacrifice

Student athletes at WSU outperformed their non-athletic peers academically even before spring 2022. Compared to other American Athletic Conference (AAC) schools, WSU student athletes generally surpass their competition in the classroom.

“I think one of the biggest pluses is the athletic office with those coordinators,” said Elia Ortega, a first-year adviser for the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Ortega said there’s a lot of collaboration between academic advising offices and student athlete academic advising offices to ensure that student athletes’ schedules work around practice times. When enrollment opens, student athletes, along with Cohen Honors students and seniors, get first pick of university courses for the next semester.

“They don’t have the flexibility that sometimes other students may have,” Ortega said. “That’s just one of the perks they give them for being on the campus and being in one of our approved athletic programs.”

Sometimes, though, student athletes will be enrolled in “tough majors” — subjects of study such as chemistry, engineering and health professions. These courses typically require additional lectures and labs, which are often lengthy and intersect with practice times. 

Ortega said that sometimes, despite advising’s best attempts to accommodate them, those students must choose between their sport and their degree.

“It gets a little complicated because I can’t fit everything in (their schedule in order for them to graduate and play),” Ortega said. “If you’re trying to do that (labs and clinicals) with a sport not as compatible … we have to play with things.”

Some alternatives include night classes, but NCAA academic eligibility requirements can pose additional challenges.

“You have to complete a certain number of degree hours by the end of each academic year to be eligible the following year,” said Korey Torgerson, the associate athletic director for Student Services.

Looking past the halfway point

Going forward, Torline said she’ll continue to put her faith in student services and student athletes themselves and is confident that, despite not doing “anything magical,” students will continue to respond to the asks of the five year plan and their advisers, prioritizing their academics just as much as, if not more than, their athletics.

“I don’t think, you know, we did anything different … It’s the student athletes that did the work (and) … bought into what we were trying to tell them,” Torline said. “I mean, they’re ultimately the ones that did this … we just had the message, and they responded.”