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<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Oct. 24, 2019</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:16.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Baylor Paces Big 12 with Record-Setting Graduation Success Rate</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:.25pt">The Bears boast a program-best Graduation Success Rate of 91.
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">For more information contact: </span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Rachel Caton, 254-652-2061, </span><span style="color:black"><a href="mailto:Rachel_Caton@baylor.edu"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#954F72">Rachel_Caton@baylor.edu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">WACO, Texas –</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"> </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white">With
a school-record overall score of 91, Baylor led the Big 12 in Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for the sixth-straight year and the 10th time overall according to data released by the NCAA.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><br>
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<span style="background:white">Baylor's score improved by one from the 2017-18 GSR and tied with Iowa State (91) for the top spot, followed by Kansas State (88), Texas (88), TCU (86), Kansas (85), Oklahoma (84), Texas Tech (81), West Virginia (80) and Oklahoma
State (76). Baylor, which has finished first or second among Big 12 schools in composite GSR 11 times in the last 13 years, also paced the Big 12 in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.</span><br>
<span style="background:white"> </span><span style="color:#C00000"><br>
</span><span style="background:white">Five of Baylor's programs earned a perfect GSR score of 100, including men's golf, women's golf, women's soccer, women's tennis and women’s volleyball. For men's golf, it is the eighth-straight year they have received a
GSR of 100, seventh-straight for women's golf, seventh-straight for women's tennis, third-straight for women's soccer and first GSR of 100 for women’s volleyball since 2013-14.
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<span style="background:white"> </span><span style="color:#C00000"><br>
</span><span style="background:white">Football (90), baseball (94), men's golf (100), women's golf (100), soccer (100), women’s volleyball (100) and women's tennis (100) boasted the top scores in the Big 12 in their respective sports.</span><span style="color:#C00000"><br>
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</span><span style="background:white">Overall, four sports showed improvement in their GSR since the 2017-18 report, along with six others holding steady.
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</span><span style="color:black;background:white">The GSR was developed to more accurately assess the academic performance of student-athletes. The rate holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts
for midyear enrollees and is calculated for every sport. Under the calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing students who leave in good academic standing. The outgoing transfers are included in the receiving institution's GSR cohort. The most
recent Division I Graduation Success Rates are based on the four entering classes from 2008-2011. The NCAA began compiling these figures with the entering freshmen class of 1995.</span><span style="color:black"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The 2018-19 federal graduation rate for the Bears is 69 percent, second-highest in the Big 12.
<span style="background:white">Baylor has finished either first or second in the federal graduation rate report 13 times in the league's 23-year history, produced the league's top mark in 2018, 2015, 2012, 2004, 2001, 2000, 1998 and 1996, and has graduated
at least 60 percent of its student-athletes 20 times.</span><br>
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<b>Sport-Specific Highlights:</b><br>
<br>
<b>Baseball:</b><span style="background:white"> 94 percent is an improvement of 11 points from 2017-18, highest in the last 11 years and biggest improvement of any Baylor program to top the conference.
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<b>Football:</b><span style="background:white"> 90 percent is the best in the Big 12 for the third-straight year and is a program-best mark in the last 15 years.</span><br>
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<b>Men's Golf:</b><span style="background:white"> 100 percent GSR for seven-straight years.</span><br>
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<b>Women's Golf:</b><span style="background:white"> 100 percent GSR for seven-straight years.</span><br>
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<b>Soccer:</b><span style="background:white"> 100 percent GSR for three-straight years.</span><br>
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<b>Women's Tennis:</b><span style="background:white"> 100 percent GSR for last seven years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Women's Volleyball:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"> Earned a GSR of 100 for the first time since 2013-14.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">-baylorbears.com-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black">__________________________________</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:6.5pt;color:black"> </span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#154734">Rachel Caton</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"> | Associate Sports Information Director</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">Department of Athletics | Baylor University</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">O: 254-710-3784 | C: 254-652-2061</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://baylorbears.com/"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="160" height="44" style="width:1.6666in;height:.4583in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D58A87.07468DA0" alt="cid:image001.png@01D5070F.1E7C3CA0"></span></a><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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