For the seventh consecutive year, the Alton High School boys’ varsity tennis team has received the Team Academic Award from the Illinois High School Association. The award recognizes varsity teams that excel in the classroom while in season. To be eligible, teams must maintain at least a 3.0 G.P.A on an unweighted 4.0 scale. For the 2014 spring semester, the Redbird varsity netters maintained a team G.P.A of 3.44.  When calculating honors classes, the varsity squad had an average G.P.A. of 3.8.  Members of the team include Allan Bower, Adam Ruckman, Christian Freeman, Max Sutton, Jeff Northway, Gaven Earle, Jordann Salvador, CJ Baker, Brendan Lenhardt, Jeremy Sands, Jared Boren, Adam Kuhn, Carl Stradal, Jackson Scheiter, and Kain Henson.   Bower, Ruckman, Freeman, Stradal, Scheiter, and Henson were also members of the exclusive Southwestern Conference All-Academic Team for maintaining GPA’s of over 3.5 and being placed on the all-conference squads.  The award caps a memorable season for the Redbirds who placed third in conference, second in sectionals, and qualified five players for the state tournament.