Alabama Track and Field/Cross Country Earns Six CoSIDA Academic All-District Honors
7/15/2021 4:17:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
Mercy Chelangat, Tamara Clark, Vincent Kiprop, Daija Lampkin, Jake Spotswood and Samantha Zelden earned the honor and now move on to the Academic All-America ballot
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A total of six Alabama track and field student-athletes earned a place on the 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-District IV teams, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday.
Mercy Chelangat, Tamara Clark, Vincent Kiprop, Daija Lampkin, Jake Spotswood and Samantha Zelden all earned a place on the district squad and now move on to the national ballot for Academic All-America recognition.
The CoSIDA Academic All-District distinction is the third-straight for Lampkin, the second for Zelden and Kiprop and first for Chelangat, Clark and Spotswood. Alabama is one of just four teams across the country to earn more than five spots on the Academic All-District teams for track and field. Â
Lampkin, who earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors as both a sophomore and junior, carries a 4.0 GPA in public health and has accumulated five All-American honors.
After earning her undergraduate degree in human performance exercise science with a 4.0 GPA, Zelden, an All-American, graduated with a master's degree in kinesiology this spring with a 4.0 GPA.
Kiprop, the 2019 SEC Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, earned his undergraduate degree in public health with a 3.87 and a graduate degree in health education and promotion with a 3.93. An All-American in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, he won six Southeastern Conference titles during his career.
Chelangat, the 2020-21 NCAA Cross Country Champion, is pursuing a public health degree while maintaining a 3.67 GPA. The 2020-21 USTFCCCA Cross Country Athlete and Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Chelangat also won a pair of individual SEC titles and two All-America honors during the outdoor season.
Clark, the SEC Outdoor Runner of the Year, carries a 3.57 GPA while studying public health. She recently finished fourth in the 200 meters at the USA Olympic Trials with the second-fastest time ever by a collegian. The All-American earned a trio of top-three finishes this past season and won both the 100 and 200-meter races at the 2021 SEC Outdoor Championships.
Spotswood, the Alabama record holder in the heptathlon, graduated with a 3.88 in marketing. The All-American helped the Tide to a seventh-place finish at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships by scoring in the heptathlon.
The six track and field honorees bumped Alabama's 2020-21 CoSIDA Academic All-District IV honorees to 23. Chelengat, Clark, Kiprop, Lampkin, Spotswood and Zelden join Alabama's seven at-large team honorees, Alba Cortina Pou (women's tennis), Morgan Liberto (women's swimming and diving), Cade Auerbach (men's swimming and diving), Derek Maas (men's swimming and diving), Nicholas Perera (men's swimming and diving), Tanesha Lucoe  (men's swimming and diving) and Isabella Gonzales (rowing), along with softball's Elissa Brown, Montana Fouts, Bailey Hemphill, Alexis Mack and Kaylee Tow, football's Mac Jones and Landon Dickerson, volleyball's Madelyn St. Germain, women's basketball's Jordan Lewis and baseball's Chase Lee as all-district honorees. Jones and Dickerson have both gone on to All-America accolades while Jones was named the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for football. Academic All-America teams for at-large, baseball, softball and track and field will be announced at a later date.
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Players Mentioned
