Almost A 3-Point For UI’s Athletes

It’s the nicest statistic Idaho athletic director Pete Liske has seen in quite some time.

Idaho’s 252 student-athletes had an average grade-point average of 2.965 for fall semester, Liske said.

“That’s very, very impressive,” Liske said. “We’ve just done a great job all the way down the line. It’s nice because there hasn’t been any slack competitively in any way.”

Liske said Idaho’s athletic GPA for the last three semesters has been 2.75 last fall, 2.85 last spring and 2.965 this fall. Of the 252 student-athletes, 120, or 48 percent, achieved GPAs of 3.0 or better, including 18 with perfect 4.0s.

Six of the university’s 12 teams surpassed 3.0 or better, and 11 of the 12 programs improved their grades from 1995 spring semester.

Much of the credit goes to the athletes, coaches and Laurie Turner, coordinator of academic support services, Liske said.

“Laurie is so organized and cares so much. The consistency of the message from our coaches over the last couple years is you can do both (academics and athletics).

“The coaches just don’t say we need this kid and skate ‘em through. We have our failures and we’ll always take some chances, but that’s only if they want to work.”

Leading the way academically was the women’s track and cross country (3.323) followed by men’s golf (3.274), women’s golf (3.250), women’s tennis (3.221) and women’s basketball (3.160). Others were volleyball (2.950), men’s tennis (2.846), men’s track and cross country (2.814), football (2.592) and men’s basketball (2.220).

Nelson in hospital

North Idaho College sophomore pitcher Mark Nelson, who had a brain tumor removed in early December, has had two more surgeries since the original operation.

Following the initial operation, Nelson had an infection that required a Dec. 23 surgery. On Dec. 30, after he had been slow to regain use of his right arm and right leg, another surgery was performed.

Nelson is presently in Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia, where he is undergoing chemotherapy. That will be followed by radiation treatments.

“The tumor was malignant,” his father Chris, said. “Because Mark is young and in good shape and spirits, they believe he can handle the aggressive treatments. What they’re doing now is going around the perimeter of (the tumor) to try to nip anything in the bud.”

Since the last operation, Nelson has regained some use of his arm and leg.

“Mark said, ‘Well, I won’t be playing baseball this summer, but maybe I’ll get in some fishing,”’ his father said.

Nelson was close to finishing fall semester at NIC when he collapsed on campus in November.

Chris Nelson said NIC has been holding Mark’s grades and that his son hopes to complete the semester, depending on how much work he can handle while undergoing treatment.

Nelson was NIC’s top returning pitcher. He had a 2-6 record with a 4.9 earned-run average as a freshman.

, DataTimes