11 Crimson Tide Student-Athletes Recognized as CoSIDA Academic All-Americans During Saturday’s Alabama-Louisiana Football Game
9/29/2018 5:48:00 PM | General, Softball, Women's Golf, Gymnastics, Soccer, Women's Tennis, Volleyball, Swimming & Diving, Track & Field, Cross Country
Swimming and diving's Laurent Bams, Robert Howard, Luke Kaliszak and Temarie Tomley, gymnastics' Mackenzie Brannan, tennis' Andie Daniell, golf's Kristen Gillman, soccer's Emma Welch, volleyball's Leah Lawrence, softball's Bailey Hemphill and Josh Short of the track and field/cross country team all earned the honors in 2017-18
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Perhaps nowhere has Alabama Athletics' continued academic excellence been on better display than when it comes to the CoSIDA Academic All-America program. And those that continued that excellence last season by earning Academic All-America honors were honored during halftime of the Alabama-Louisiana football game in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama once again led the nation in Academic All-America honors, totaling 11 during the 2017-18 academic year. The Crimson Tide's total makes Alabama the only school to earn double-digit honors the last five years in a row.
The 11 Crimson Tide honorees were joined on the field by UA President Dr. Stuart Bell, Director of Athletics Greg Byrne and Senior Associate AD for Student Services Jon Dever and were cheered on by over 100,000 fans.
Swimmers Laurent Bams, Robert Howard, Luke Kaliszak and Temarie Tomley along with gymnast Mackenzie Brannan, tennis player Andie Daniell and golfer Kristen Gillman all earned a place on the at-large teams.
In the fall, Emma Welch took a spot on the soccer list while Leah Lawrence was recognized for volleyball. In the spring, Bailey Hemphill received the honor in softball and Josh Short rounded out the Tide's total when he earned a place on the track and field/cross country team.
It was Brannan's third Academic All-America honor and second for Kaliszak.
In the spring, Alabama became the first school to have a combined seven student-athletes earn a place on the at-large team in the same year. It also marked the second time that the Tide has had the maximum number of student-athletes, four, on the women's at-large team. Alabama was the first school to put four on the women's (2014) and men's (2017) at-large teams and is now the first to put four on the women's team twice (2014 and 2018).
The Alabama men's swimming and diving program has been particularly prolific over the past four years, with six swimmers earning 12 honors. That total is nearly double what any other school has put on the men's at-large team over that span for all sports combined.
Alabama softball players have earned 24 Academic All-America awards over the Tide's 22-year history, including at least one award winner every year since 2008.
UA gymnasts have garnered Academic All-America recognition 23 times with Brannan becoming the third Alabama gymnast to garner three honors in a career with her 2018 accolade. Tide gymnasts have earned Academic All-America honors 10 of the past 11 years and the past six years in a row.
Lawrence's honors marked the fourth season in a row that at least one Tide volleyball player has received the honor.
Welch is the seventh UA soccer player to be named Academic All-America, with her honor becoming the Tide's eighth in program history.
Short's honor marks the ninth year in a row that at least one member of the track & field/cross country program has earned Academic All-American recognition. Overall, 11 members of the program have received Academic All-America recognition 18 times.
In addition to the Tide's 11 Academic All-Americans, six additional UA student-athletes earned Academic All-District recognition: Rachel Bobo (softball), Connor Ferrentino (men's track and field/cross country), Nicole Gardner (women's track and field/cross country), Keith Holcombe (football), Jonah Williams (football) and Braxton Young (at-large/swimming and diving).
With five huge Academic All-America classes in a row, Alabama has made a big jump in the national rankings over that span, moving from 13th all-time in NCAA Division I following the 2012-13 academic year to fifth two years later. Following the 2017-18 school year, Alabama leads the Southeastern Conference with a total of 170 Academic All-America accolades and is ranked fifth among NCAA Division I schools.
Alabama student-athletes have come away with Academic All-America honors a Division I-best 88 times since 2009-10 and 56 times over the last five years. The Tide's five-year total is 11 better than second-place Stanford over that span. Alabama has also made a significant jump in the rankings when it comes to honors since 2000, jumping Notre Dame in 2017-18 to move up to second place with 134.
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