Rowing Places Three on Inaugural Conference USA All-Academic Team
5/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
IRVING, Texas - Three Alabama rowers were among the sixteen student-athletes who were named to the inaugural Conference USA All-Academic Team, the league office announced Friday. The team was voted on by the league's sports information directors for rowing. All nine C-USA rowing schools were represented.
Crimson Tide seniors Katherine Spohr (Edwardsville, Ill.), Bailey Sanders (Madison, Miss.) and Stacey Ogle (Albertville, Ala.) earned the league honor. Spohr was one of four student-athletes who were unanimous selections to the All-Academic squad.
"I think this reflects very well on the dedication our ladies have as student-athletes," UA head coach Larry Davis said. "These three are obviously leading the charge, but we have a strong group of student-athletes who are taking care of things in the classroom. It's nice to have those leading the way recognized in this way."
Alabama and Kansas were the only two schools to place three members on the team. Oklahoma, Texas and Tulsa each had two while Kansas State, SMU, Tennessee and UCF had one representative each. The all-academic team consists of student-athletes who have earned a 3.2 cumulative grade point average or better and are a key contributor to their team.
Spohr, a two-time Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association's Scholar-Athlete, sports a 3.93 GPA in economics and marketing. She earned the Junior Faculty Excellence Award in Economics in 2009 and the Senior Faculty Excellence Award in Economics in 2010. A member of the Tide's bronze-medal winning 8 at the 2009 Head of the Charles, Spohr helped lead the Tide's First Varsity 8+ to a bronze-medal finish in the Petite Finals of the 2009 SIRA Championships and a top-10 finish at the 2008 Head of the Charles Regatta.
A member of Phi Beta Kappa and a two-time Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association's Scholar-Athlete award winner, Sanders was named to the McNair Scholars Program in 2009. She carries a 4.0 GPA while majoring in political science and minoring in Spanish, Italian and creative writing. She led Alabama to a gold medal in the Varsity 4+ at the 2010 SIRA Championships. As part of the Tide's Varsity 8+ she helped Alabama to a silver medal in the Varsity 8+ at both the 2007 Head of the Charles Regatta and 2008 SIRA Championships and a bronze medal at the 2009 Head of the Charles Regatta.
Ogle graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in communication studies after posting a perfect 4.0 GPA and is now pursuing a graduate degree in the same field. The first UA rower to earn a place on the prestigious ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large team, Ogle is a two-time Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association's Scholar-Athlete award winner and has earned the McKinley Student Excellence Award. She led the Tide to a bronze medal at this fall's Head of the Charles Regatta. She also helped lead the Tide's First Varsity 8+ to a bronze-medal finish in the Petite Finals of the 2009 SIRA Championships and a top-10 finish at the 2008 Head of the Charles.
The Tide will compete in the first C-USA Rowing Championship May 15-16 at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
