Alabama Athletics Honors Academic and Community Outreach Standouts
4/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | General
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama Athletics Department hosted its annual Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Awards Banquet Monday night in "The Zone" located in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Gymnastics and men's cross country were honored as the teams with the highest grade point averages. Both teams earned the honor after winning Southeastern Conference titles this season. Gymnastics, which won its sixth league title in March, posted a 3.62 GPA while men's cross country, which won its second SEC title in the fall, earned a 3.33.
Senior softball player Brittany Rogers and senior tennis player Michael Jung were named the winners of the Paul W. Bryant Award given annually to the top male and female student-athlete. The Paul W. Bryant Student-Athlete Award was created by the Tuscaloosa County Chapter of the University of Alabama Alumni Association in 1985. The award brings public recognition to the outstanding achievements of Crimson Tide student-athletes in the classroom, in their athletic endeavors and in the community.
Rogers, a senior from Dacula, Ga., is majoring in Elementary Education. A three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and a 2007 Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar Award winner, she is a three-year All-American outfielder for the Tide. The 2006 SEC Freshman of the Year, she has been on USA Softball's Player of the Year Watch List for three seasons. A member of the Alabama Student-Athlete Advisory Committee since 2006, she served as its president this year. Active in community service throughout her time on the Capstone, she was named to the SEC Community Service Team in 2007.
A senior majoring in Marketing, Jung became the seventh player in Alabama history to compile 30 or more wins in a single season and the first since 1993. He has collected the most wins throughout the dual match season with a record of 16-4 and has clinched five matches in 2009 including a tie-breaker win to clinch the Tide's final regular-season match at Auburn. In the fall, he won the HEB Baylor Invitational Flight B Singles Championships. A three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, four-time member of the Dean's List and an ITA Scholar-Athlete Award winner, Jung is recipient of seven different academic scholarships.
The other finalists for the Bryant Student-Athlete Award were also recognized. On the women's side, that included Alyson Butler, basketball, Laura Goodwin, golf, Kassi Price, gymnastics, Victoria Croy, rowing, Kailey Corken, soccer, Elizabeth Hughes, swimming and diving, Alice Tunaru, tennis, Kimberley Laing, track and field, Farrah Stewart, cross country, and Calli Johnson, volleyball.
On the men's side, the finalists were Bobby Greenwood, football, Kent Matthes, baseball, Justin Knox, basketball, Matthew Swan, golf, Kevin Greer, swimming and diving, David Chaplin, track and field, and Cameron Sherrill, cross country.
The Alabama Athletics Department's community outreach efforts were also honored during the banquet. Crimson Tide student-athletes gave more than 4,000 hours toward community services this year. For the second year in a row, the rowing team was the women's squad with the most community outreach hours while basketball earned the award for the most outreach hours of any men's team.
Individually, student-athletes were honored in two different community outreach categories. Five student-athletes were honored with The Community Outreach award, given annually to the student-athletes with the highest overall service hours. The 2008-09 honorees in that category were: Amy Allison, rowing, Erika Baranek, rowing, Kailey Corken, soccer, Catherine Dozier, softball and Katie Smith, rowing.
The Community Outreach - Tuscaloosa Community award honors student-athletes with the highest service hours in the Tuscaloosa community. The 2008-09 honorees are: Jessica Autrey, rowing, Kailey Corken, soccer, Catherine Dozier, softball, Kate Shannon Gray, swimming and diving and Karen Lansden, soccer.
Student-athletes who were named to campus and national honor societies this year and those named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll were also honored during the banquet. There were close to 200 student-athletes recognized during honors week by their induction into honoraries and other organizations.
