Student athletes suffer from at least one stereotype that does not portray them accurately, that they have bad grades.

But at Pitt-Johnstown, this is not the case.  81 athletes participating in a sport at Pitt-Johnstown made the 2013 fall semester’s dean’s list.

Among these student athletes, the men’s basketball team members maintained the highest grade point average.

The men’s basketball team members received a cumulative GPA of 3.29 with 10 of 14 players making the dean’s list.

Out of the 10 students on the dean’s list, four students received a 4.0 GPA.

Coach Bob Rukavina said that he pushes his team to maintain good grades and asks players monthly how they are doing in their classes.

“It is not good enough for a team to be good at basketball, they must also excel in their academics so they can rely on that in their future,” Rukavina said.

He said that he would rather have his team lose every game if that meant their grades would stay up.

He was proud to know his team made top GPA.

Faculty NCAA representative Raymond Wrabley said he was impressed by last semester’s number of dean’s list student athletes.

He said that every year students seem to care more about their academics than just playing the sport they love.

Wrabley said that the number of Pitt-Johnstown athletes who have made dean’s list has increased slowly over time.

“Coaches are starting to see that it is not enough just to play the sport,” he said.