Scores for each team are determined on a scale from one to 1,000, with 1,000 being the highest score. No Dartmouth teams fell under a score of 925 the penalty cutoff for NCAA sanctions and the Big Green averaged an overall score of 996.5, approximately 25 points above the national average of 970.
The Dartmouth teams recognized include baseball, football, softball, field hockey, women's basketball, women's crew, women's lacrosse, women's skiing, women's swimming, women's volleyball, men's lacrosse, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis and men's and women's indoor and outdoor track.
Twenty-four teams were "perfect" in terms of recognition and eligibility in the past year, while 14 teams have remained perfect for four consecutive years.
"The margin is so razor thin," senior associate athletic director Drew Galbraith said. "Even if we have one student that's eligible and transfers out, then the team isn't perfect."
Yale University and Brown University placed ahead of Dartmouth in top-10 percent recognitions, while six Ivy League institutions ranked among the top 10 of all those receiving recognitions. Columbia University and Cornell University were the only teams in the conference to fall outside of the top 10. The League led all Division I conferences, and the Patriot League placed second.
Dartmouth has placed in the top three nationally since 2006, when the NCAA began recognizing top-10 percent performance. The Big Green has also received the second most total recognitions with 134. Yale ranks first with 157.
A team can lose a top score even if a student-athlete has legitimate grounds for leaving the College, according to Galbraith.
"Most Dartmouth students understand how good the experience is here," Galbraith said. "Particularly academically, every student that's transferred out has had a really compelling reason."
The Big Green peaked in 2007 and 2008, when the report recognized 24 teams. Galbraith said Dartmouth is striving toward more recognitions, noting that the College measures itself against peers' scores, not the 925 cutoff line.
Faziah Steen '13, a member of the women's basketball team, said the report reflects that student-athletes at the College are able to balance their academic and athletic commitments.
"It's indicative of our emphasis as an Ivy League institution on the student aspect of student-athlete we are able to fulfill both roles at a high level," she said in an email to The Dartmouth. "The important thing about being a student-athlete is having good time management skills, and Dartmouth athletes clearly have that key ability."
Staff writer Caroline Buck contributed to the reporting of this article.
