Two Eastside schools have been recognized as having some of the most academically-successful sports teams in the state as Redmond High School and Newport High School have been named the Fall Team Academic State Champions under the 2021 WIAA/Gesa Credit Union Scholastic Awards Program.

Under the 4A category, Redmond High School’s volleyball team won the honors with the team of 11 earning a collective 3.92 GPA.

“This award is an outstanding, tangible achievement recognizing the hard work put into the classroom by our volleyball student-athletes,” said Redmond HS Director of Athletics, Daniel Pudwill. “Their success can be attributed to finding balance in juggling busy schedules but ultimately placing appropriate importance on their academics … and they’re just really smart too!”

Newport High School in Bellevue had three different teams win the award under the 4A category, including the school’s Football team, Girls Soccer team and Girls Swimming team.

With a 44-player team their football players earned a collective 3.54 GPA, with 61 players, their Girls Swimming team earned 3.895 collective GPA and their Girls Soccer team earned a collective 3.9 GPA with 37 players.

Newport High School Athletics Director, Jesse Snyder, said these grade averages include the last two years of mostly online school when many students struggled to stay engaged with their education, a testament to their “grit and commitment.”

“It is challenging enough to maintain the kind of grades that these students have achieved, but to achieve it when you are practicing 5 and 6 days a week, on the road, and competing late at night really speaks to the kind of futures that await our student-athletes,” said Snyder. “This is a great honor that can be celebrated by the entire Newport community and is well deserved for the hard work that our students put in.”