The Crimson Column presented by Mercedes-Benz
6/21/2019 2:40:00 PM | General
CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
We received some great news today when it was announced that four of our student-athletes earned a place on the CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large Team, including swimmer Laurent Bams, who was named the at-large team's male Academic All-American of the Year. Laurent, fellow swimmer Robert Howard, Andie Daniell (women's tennis) and Raien Emery (rowing) all earned Academic All-America honors this season. It was the second-consecutive honor for Laurent, Robert and Andie. Laurent is our second Academic All-American of the Year this year, joining Bailey Hemphill, who led the Softball Academic All-America team earlier this month. She and Laurent boosted our grand total of Academic All-Americans of the Year to 12 over the last dozen years and 13 total. We are one of three schools to have more than three student-athletes on the at-large teams and we tied with Stanford for the most first-team honors with three each. Overall, eight members of the Crimson Tide have earned Academic All-America recognition so far this year, an amazing total for this national award.
Individual Academic Excellence in the Spring
A few weeks ago, I talked about the great job the Crimson Tide did during the spring semester in terms of team grade point averages, with 14 programs earning over a 3.0 GPA and nine with a 3.5 or better. Team grades like that are obviously built on outstanding individual performances, and last semester was no exception. More than 350 UA student-athletes earned a 3.0 or better GPA in the spring, including over 230 that sported a 3.5 or better and 80-plus that earned a perfect 4.0 GPA for the semester. This kind of academic excellence certainly starts with the student-athlete but is supported and encouraged throughout the University and Alabama Athletics as we strive for excellence in all areas of the collegiate experience.
Track and Field Finishes Our Year Strong
Our men's and women's track and field teams closed out our athletic calendar with a strong showing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas, where I can tell you after standing down on the track as the final points were tallied, hot doesn't begin to describe it. Head coach Dan Waters' crew finished the year with both the men and the women posting top-10 finishes, as the women took seventh and the men 10th. It marked the first time since 1993 that our women finished in the top-10 at the outdoor championships and the first time in school history that our men have finished in the top-10 at three consecutive outdoor championships. More impressively, both our men and women finished in the top-10 nationally at the indoor and outdoor championships in the same season for the first time in school history. Alabama and Florida are the only programs in the nation to achieve that milestone this season. Individually, 21 of our men and women earned 31 All-America honors during the outdoor season and Alabama ranked sixth in combined men's and women's First Team All-America honors. What a great job by all involved.
Lewis Jr. Named to 2019 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Cup Team
This week, Kira Lewis Jr. earned a spot on the 2019 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Cup Team. He is one of 12 selected for the roster that will continue training in Colorado Springs before traveling to Greece next week for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Way to go, Kira!
Habetz to be Inducted into West Alabama Softball Hall of Fame
Congratulations to Alyson Habetz on her upcoming induction tonight into the West Alabama Softball Hall of Fame. Her 21-year career on the coaching staff here includes six SEC regular-season championships, four SEC tournament titles, 12 Women's College World Series appearances and a national championship in 2012.
Alabama at the SEC Student-Athlete Leadership Council Meetings
Five Crimson Tide student-athletes will make their way to Birmingham during the last weekend in June to take part in the Southeastern Conference's annual Joint Student-Athlete Leadership Council Meeting at SEC Headquarters. During the two-day event, Tyler Barnes (men's basketball), Jordan Lewis (women's basketball), Chris Owens (football), Kat Rogers (soccer) and Alize Ford (men's track and field) will represent Alabama student-athletes. This marks the third joint meeting of the leadership councils for the sports of football and men's and women's basketball, along with the SEC's longstanding Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and provides Commissioner Greg Sankey and members of the conference staff opportunities to engage with campus leaders. In addition to discussions with Sankey and guest speakers, the groups will discuss SEC and NCAA approved legislation for 2019-20, campus SAAC programming ideas and student-athlete engagement opportunities in the SEC. These meetings afford our student-athletes a great opportunity to be a part of the larger discussion surrounding not only their sports and the conference, but collegiate athletics overall.
The Crimson Standard Update
I am excited to share that The University of Alabama Board of Trustees approved Phase 1 of The Crimson Standard at their Board Meeting on June 7. We will now begin the process of sending this project out for bid and, based on the current timeline, will begin construction immediately following the 2019 football season. A full update on the project can be found here. Thank you for supporting the vision for the future of Alabama Athletics. Each of you are critical to our success!
University Spotlight
The "Where Legends Are Made," campaign was recently awarded the top prize worldwide for advertising campaigns in higher education at the 2019 Circle of Excellence awards. This international competition had more nearly 2,900 entries from 611 member institutions in 20 countries, so quite an honor for The University of Alabama!
#RollTideFriday
Our final #RollTideFriday photos of the 2018-19 academic year highlight the mountains. First, we've got Ayla Russell in her "Where Legends Are Made," (fitting with our University Spotlight in this edition) shirt from Juneau, Alaska. Secondly, Louis Morrow checks in with his Alabama hat from the Grand Canyon.
Ayla Russell
Louis Morrow
Remember to use the hashtag #RollTideFriday in your social posts and tweet your photos to me at @Greg_Byrne. We will select two photos to feature in each blog and add even more to our #RollTideFriday Fan Hub.
