Sixteen of Biola’s 19 sports teams have been recognized as scholar teams by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) for the 2009-10 school year. The NAIA honored 857 scholar teams across the nation. Biola, along with Hastings College, had the most scholar teams in the NAIA league. A sports team must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 to be considered a scholar team.

“Biola has a strong academic tradition with rigorous requirements found at few other schools,” said athletic director Dave Holmquist.

The teams of Biola are well-rounded. They do not attend Biola only for athletics but also academics, and they tend to succeed on both fronts.

Two teams in particular deserve special attention. Out of the other 17 teams, women’s cross-country and women’s soccer held the highest cumulative GPA of a 3.55. Together the girls of both teams represent a number of different and often demanding majors, from art to engineering.

“They are doing well meeting their academic challenges and their athletic goals,” women’s soccer head coach Todd Elkins said. “We are very proud of them.”

Jonathan Zimmerman, coach of the cross-country and track teams, described his runners as stewards of both academics and athletics. It is not easy to juggle, for example, science labs and team practices he said. If someone cannot make a team practice because of a class, he or she might wake up at 6:30 in the morning to workout alone.

To excel in sports and academics involves not only a lot of time but also diligence, commitment, and hard work, an uncommon combination elsewhere but obviously the standard for athletes at Biola University.