Four Alabama Student-Athletes Earn At-Large Academic All-America Honors
6/19/2020 11:00:00 AM | General, Women's Tennis, Swimming & Diving
Swimmers Daniel Kober, Allie Surrency and Zane Waddell and tennis player Alba Cortina Pou earned Academic All-America honors
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – For the second year in a row, a total of four Crimson Tide student-athletes earned a place on the CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large Teams. Swimmers Daniel Kober and Zane Waddell earned spots on the men's team, while tennis player Alba Cortina Pou and swimmer Allie Surrency were voted to the women's squad.
Alabama is one of five schools with more than three student-athletes on this year's at-large teams and the only Southeastern Conference school with more than two. Kober and Surrency earned first team recognition while Waddell and Cortina Pou made the second team.
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.
Waddell, a World, World University Games, NCAA and SEC Champion, graduated in May with a degree in management information systems and finance. He is the 2020 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was a finalist for the H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Kober closed out his career with a 4.0 GPA in Chemical Engineering. An All-American, Surrency graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering carrying a 4.0 GPA, while Cortina Pou graduated with a 4.0 GPA in Finance and Marketing.
Inside the Numbers
- Since nominations for the at-large team went from a maximum of three men and three women to four of each in 2014, Alabama has led the nation with 36, a dozen better than the next-highest total.
- The Alabama men's swimming and diving program has been particularly prolific in terms of Academic All-Americans over the past six years, with eight swimmers earning 16 honors. That total is nearly double what any other school has over that span for all sports combined. Overall, 19 members of the men's and women's swimming and diving squads have earned a spot on the at-large team 29 times.
- Cortina Pou is the ninth member of the women's tennis program to earn Academic All-America honors, coming away with its 12th honor overall.
- In all, Alabama student-athletes have earned a place on the Academic All-America At-Large team 82 times since making their first appearance in 1986.
- With four making the at-large team, a total of nine Alabama student-athletes have earned Academic All-America honors during the 2019-20 academic year, with Cortina Pou, Kober, Surrency and Waddell joining Krystal Goodman (softball), Bailey Hemphill (softball), Nealy Martin (soccer), Alex Plavin (soccer) and Kaylee Tow (softball).
- The Crimson Tide also has three student-athletes on the track and field/cross country Academic All-America ballot, which will be announced later this month.
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Players Mentioned
