Skillman, N.J. — The University of New Mexico men’s tennis squad, regular season Mountain West champions, were honored by the ITA as one of 69 programs with the organizations All-Academic Award. In addition, three Lobos in Augustus Ge, James Hignett and Samir Iftikhar earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors.
Not only were the Lobos the only men’s tennis team in the Mountain West to earn the team award, but Ge, Hignett and Iftikhar were the only individuals from the Mountain West to be named Scholar-Athlete.
The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). All varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2013 and spring 2014). In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: 1.) be a varsity letter winner, 2.) have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and 3.) have been enrolled at their present school for at least 2 semesters (including freshman through senior year).
New Mexico in its first season under Bart Scott won the Mountain West regular season title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Iftikhar qualified for the NCAA Championships in singles as well.