Welcome back Mizzou student-athletes! We hope you all had a great break and are ready for a great semester! As always, WeAreMizzou.blogspot.com is your source for behind-the-scenes information on Mizzou's 502 student-athletes with photos, videos and highlights on and off the field.

Here are some of those highlights from the Fall 2010 semester:

• 2.94 overall student-athlete GPA (Second highest fall performance)

• 12 sports above a 3.00 team GPA (Women’s Basketball, Women’s Golf, Gymnastics, Soccer, Softball, Women’s Swimming, Tennis, Women’s Track, Women’s Cross Country, Men’s Golf, Men’s Track, Men’s Cross Country)

• A fall record 180 students were recognized on their respective Dean’s List

• 248 (50%) student athletes received a 3.00 or higher GPA

• 30 students received Academic All-Conference recognition. (Football, Volleyball, Cross Country)

• 248 student athletes were recognized on the Fall 2010 Commissioner’s Honor Roll

• MU has an 80% Graduation Success Rate, a record performance for Mizzou and second in the conference, only one percentage point behind Kansas State’s 81

• MU led the Big 12 conference by having 6 teams with the highest Graduation Success Rate in their respective sport (Football, Men’s Swimming, Women’s Basketball, Women’s Golf, Soccer, Woman’s Swimming)

• MU had four teams with a perfect 100% Graduation Success Rate (Women’s Basketball, Women’s Golf, Soccer, Women’s Swimming)

• Soccer’s 100% Graduation Success Rate was the only Big 12 school and one of 10 public, BCS institutions to accomplish the feat and Women’s Basketball’s 100% Graduation Success Rate was one of 14 public, BCS institutions to accomplish the feat

• Seven of MU’s sport programs led the Big 12 conference in Academic Progress Rate, a measure of academic progress and performance of athletic programs, ranking second in the conference behind Texas’ nine (Women’s golf, Women’s basketball, Women’s Swimming and Diving, Gymnastics, Women’s Indoor Track and Field, Women’s Outdoor Track and Field, and Men’s Swimming and Diving)

• Alysha Bonnick and Laurence Bowers received the Chick-Fil-A Community of Champions Award

Mizzou seniors Jana Hainey, Michaele Vock and Gina Schneider, juniors Marla Schweisberger and Abby Vock and sophomores Ashley Fleming, Chelsea Thomas and Kristin Nottelmann were all named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team. The eight members from the 2010 squad tie for the second most in Missouri history. The 2006 team also had eight, while last year’s program had 12 student-athletes selected.

To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters. All position players nominated must have participated in 60 percent of their team’s scheduled contests, while pitchers are required to have at least one inning pitched per game played by the team or have appeared in 20 percent of their team’s total games. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.

University Missouri women's basketball players RaeShara Brown, Kendra Frazier and Jasmyn Otote were among 47 student-athletes named to the 2010 Academic All-Big 12 Women's Basketball Team, the league office announced Thursday.

Brown and Frazier earned spots on the first team, while Otote was a second team honoree. A junior, Brown is now a two-time Academic All-Big 12 first team honoree. Otote, a junior, and Frazier, a sophomore, were honored for the first time in their careers.

In the 12 years under Head Coach Cindy Stein, 42 student-athletes have earned recognition on the Academic All-Big 12 teams.

After one of the most successful freshman seasons in Mizzou cross country history, Kaitie Vanatta (Littleton, Colo.) added another award to her résumé on Tuesday (March 2) as she earned US Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Honors for the first time in her career. She was one of 104 student-athletes, representing 57 colleges and universities, to earn the award this season. Not only was Vanatta one of 104 honorees, but she was one of only nine student-athletes on the list to compile a 4.00 grade-point-average as she is majoring in middle school education in her first year at Mizzou.

The award honors student-athletes who have succeeded both academically and athletically. To be eligible for the award a student-athlete must carry a minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA and must have placed among the top 15 finishers (or top 10-percent) at their respective NCAA Regional Championships. In Vanatta's case, she did just that after earning All-Midwest Regional honors with an eighth-place finish at the Midwest Regional Championships back in November.

The All-Academic honor is just another award for Vanatta who continues to pile them up after her first season donning the black and gold. In the field of competition, Vanatta earned All-Big 12 and All-Midwest Regional honors and was an NCAA National qualifier in 2009. She became the program's second-ever freshman All-Big 12 honoree and the first to do so since 2002 after earning 11th-place overall at the Big 12 Championships. She was also the Tigers' first All-Big 12 honoree on either the men's or women's side since 2006 and was named Big 12 Runner of the Week on Sept. 15, 2009, for the first time in her career.

The award just adds to the list of academic success that the track and field/cross country program has compiled under the direction of head coach Rick McGuire.

2.88 overall student-athlete GPA.

10 sports above a 3.00 team GPA.

Women’s Golf, Gymnastics, Soccer, Softball, Women’s Swimming, Tennis, Women’s Track, Women’s Cross Country, Men’s Golf, Men’s Cross Country

226 (46%) student athletes received a 3.00 or higher GPA.

A fall record 44 students received Academic All-Conference recognition. (Football, Volleyball, Cross Country)

226 student athletes were recognized on the Fall 2009 Commissioner’s Honor Role.

A fall record 171 students were recognized on their respective dean’s list.

MU achieved a 2009 Graduation Success Rate of 75%.

MU led the Big 12 in APR with 5 of MU’s 20 sport programs leading the conference and 14 of 20 sport programs finishing in the top three in the conference in their respective sport.

MU was second in the conference with 134 student-athletes recognized on Academic All-Big 12 teams during the 2008-2009 academic year.

Kurtis Gregory and Grant Ressell were named Academic All-District

Kurtis Gregory was a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award and the William V. Campbell Trophy (Academic Heisman)

Allie Heizelman was the University of Missouri Sol Feinstone Scholarship Winner

Madison Marcolla received the Chick-Fil-A Community of Champions Award and was a semi-finalist for the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams were honored as All-Academic teams. The Women’s Cross Country team earned a term grade-point-average of 3.467, earning the 44^th-straight All-Academic honor for the Mizzou track and field/cross country program, doing so in every semester since the inception of the award 16 seasons ago. Mizzou is the only program in the nation to have accomplished that feat. The Tiger men’s cross country team finished the fall semester with a term GPA of 3.06, earning the All-Academic award as well.