Eight Alabama Student-Athletes Earn CoSIDA Academic All-District Honors and Move on to National Ballot
5/17/2018 3:19:00 PM | General, Women's Golf, Gymnastics, Women's Tennis, Swimming & Diving
The Crimson Tide put the maximum number of student-athletes, four men and four women, on the District IV at-large team
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - A total of eight University of Alabama student-athletes earned a place on the 2017-18 CoSIDA Academic All-District IV At-Large teams, it was announced Thursday.
Four men – swimmers Laurent Bams, Robert Howard, Luke Kaliszak and Braxton Young – and four women – gymnast Mackenzie Brannan, tennis player Andie Daniell, golfer Kristen Gillman and swimmer Temarie Tomley – all earned the accolade. It was the third district honor for Brannan and the second for Kaliszak. Both went on to earn Academic All-America honors in previous seasons.
All eight will now move on to the national ballot with a chance to earn Academic All-America honors.
Each school can nominate up to four men and four women for the at-large team, giving Alabama the maximum number of district honors. It marks the second year in a row that Alabama swimming has maxed out the men's side of the slate, with all four going on to earn Academic All-America honors last season.
Unlike the other Academic All-America teams which represent a single sport, the at-large program spans several men's and women's sports. The women's at-large team includes beach volleyball, bowling, rowing, field hockey, fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis and water polo, while the men include fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis, water polo, volleyball and wrestling.
Bams, Howard, Kaliszak and Young are each All-Americans and led Alabama to a 13th-place national finish this season. In addition to earning Academic All-America honors last season, Kaliszak is the 2018 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year and is a finalist for the H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Brannan, Gillman and Tomley have each earned All-America honors in their respective sports, while Daniell earned First Team All-SEC honors this season. Brannan is a two-time Academic All-American and is a finalist for the H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Brannan, Kalisak, Tomley and Young all graduated in May. Bams, Daniell and Howard just finished their junior seasons. Gillman is still in the midst of her sophomore season, as she and the rest of Alabama's women's golf team begin play at the NCAA Championships this week.
In addition to the eight Alabama athletes on the at-large team, the Tide has already had six from other sports earn All-District honors during the current academic year including two each from football and softball and one each from volleyball and soccer, for a total of 14 with the track and field/cross country team still to be named.
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