Alabama Track and Field Duo Earns Academic All-America Honors
6/24/2016 3:38:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama track and field duo of Alex Gholston and Quanesha Burks were selected to the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America Track & Field/Cross Country Team it was announced Friday. Gholston was one of 15 NCAA Division I first-team honorees while two-time NCAA champion Burks earned second-team recognition.
"This really shows the balance we strive for at Alabama," UA head coach Dan Waters said. "To have an NCAA champion and All-American also earn Academic All-America is a tremendous feat. We are very proud of everything Quanesha and Alex have accomplished to this point in their Crimson Tide careers."
A junior, carrying a 4.0 cumulative grade point average, Gholston finished 16th at the 2016 NCAA Championships in the 400 meter after posting a personal-best time of 52.11 at the Southeastern Conference Championships. An English major from Town Creek, Ala., she ran the lead leg of the Tide's 4x400 relay that recorded the fifth-, sixth- and eighth-fastest times in school history at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, NCAA East Regional and SEC Outdoor Championships, respectively. Gholston was also a member of the Tide's indoor 4x400 relay that finished seventh at the SEC Indoor Championships with a leap of 22 feet, 2.5 inches.
Carrying a cumulative GPA of 3.5, Burks is a two-time NCAA champion, winning the national long jump titles at NCAA outdoors in 2015 and indoors in 2016. She also finished as the NCAA runner-up in the long jump in last month's NCAA Outdoor Championships. A two-time SEC long jump champion, the junior from Hartselle, Ala., who is majoring in elementary education, currently holds the 10 best jumps in Alabama women's track & field history. Her winning jump at the SEC Outdoor Championships was the best in the NCAA in 2016.
Gholston and Burks are the fifth and sixth members of the Alabama women's track and field team to earn Academic All-America honors. Gholston, Burks and junior thrower Joe Williams all earned a place on the 2016 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Track & Field/Cross Country Team earlier this season.
