Sixth-Ranked Alabama Gymnastics Celebrates
2017 Season With Annual Medalists Club Awards Banquet
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| 2017 Alabama Gymnastics Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
The Sunday evening event was held on the floor of Coleman Coliseum in beautiful Tuscaloosa, Alabama and was hosted by the Alabama gymnastics' booster organization, the Medalist Club. More than 300 attendees helped to celebrate the 2017 Crimson Tide. During the festivities, the Medalist Club presented a check for over $35,000 to create the Medalist Club Endowed Gymnastics Scholarship in honor of Lucy Smith, one of the founders of the Medalist Club. Smith served as the organization's inaugural president.
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
This past season saw the Alabama Crimson Tide pick up its 35th national championship berth, making its NCAA-best 10th-consecutive Super Six appearance and 23rd overall. Seniors Mackenzie Valentin and Aja Sims along with junior Nickie Guerrero were named Alabama's 2017 team captains.
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Picking up the Lewis Each Courage Award was Tide junior Kiana Winston. This particular award is recognized as the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Alabama Gymnastics program. Winston accepted the award from Jean and Winston Each, parents of the honor's namesake, the late Lewis Each.
Other awards and honorees:
- David DeSantis Community Service Award: Nickie Guerrero
- Dana Dobransky Commitment to Excellence Award: Mackenzie Valentin
- David Dutton Memorial Award: Amanda Jetter
- David Patterson Work Ethic Award: Aja Sims and Blake Sellers
- Fern Hampton Academic Award: Keely McNeer
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
The Medalist Club Pat Huet President's Award went to incoming president Joe Boetler. Both Boetler as well as outgoing president Jim Davis spoke of the Medalist Club's commitment to supporting and furthering the gymnastics program's legacy of champion and tradition of excellence.
Congratulations to the 2017 Alabama Gymnastics program...and Roll Tide!
*All Photographs Courtesy of UA Athletics
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Alabama Ties For Second Place
At SEC Women's Golf Championship
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
The Crimson Tide now holds the new SEC Women's Golf Championship record for score and score vs. par with the 13-under par 275 round. The previous record was an 11-under par 277 by Texas A&M in the second round of the 2015 championship, which was also played at Greystone.
UA (295-285-275/855) opened yesterday's final round in seventh place at 4-over par but was able to shoot a 6-under par front nine to move to 2-under at the turn. On the back nine Bama had a 7-under par finish to vault into second place at 9-under par. Overall, Alabama finished with a tournament-leading 58 birdies over the three rounds along with two eagles.
The Florida Gators shot 10-under par on Sunday to finish at 22-under par (284-280-278/842) for the tournament and earn the 2017 championship.
Alabama women's golf head coach Mic Potter said, "We've gotten progressively better. We hit a lot of fairways and putted better today and gave ourselves more opportunities. The course was not as fast and was more receptive today. I like to think the first day was an anomaly and this is the way we play. Hopefully we continue that way going forward. Today needed to be special for us to have a chance to win but it was still pretty good. Most importantly, we wanted to establish momentum and confidence because our most important tournaments are coming up."
2017 SEC Women's Golf Championship
Greystone Golf & Country Club Legacy Course
Birmingham, Alabama
Alabama Results
5t. Cheyenne Knight- 75-70-66/211 (-5)
7t. Kristen Gillman- 72-69-71/212 (-4)
13t. Lauren Stephenson- 74-72-67/213 (-3)
30t. Mia Landegren- 75-74-71/220 (+4)
50t. Lakareber Abe- 74-80-72/226 (+10)
Team Standings
1. Florida- 284-280-278/842 (-22)
2t. ALABAMA- 295-285-275/855 (-9)
2t. Georgia- 287-282-286/855 (-9)
4. Arkansas- 283-287-287/857 (-7)
5t. Texas A&M- 282-290-288/860 (-4)
5t. South Carolina- 286-290-284/860 (-4)
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics/Robert Sutton |
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Alabama Men's Golf Falls At SEC Championship
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
"Our guys have done a phenomenal job of making themselves an NCAA-caliber team," stated Alabama men's golf head coach Jay Seawell. "We'll go home and rest a couple of days. Today was a draining, emotional day. The guys need a couple days off, get their school in order so that they are ready for exams. We will find out soon where we are going to go for regionals. Once we know that, we will focus on getting back to work and getting ready for the second part of the championship season which is the NCAAs."
This year featured a new tournament format, with the top eight teams advancing to match play after 54 holes of stroke play. Both the quarterfinals and semifinals were held on Sunday. Texas A&M will face top-seeded Vanderbilt, which knocked off No. 4 seed Florida 3-2 in the semifinals, in today's championship round.
"I thought the new format was a home run," Seawell said. "I think it's something that will make our championship even more precious – and harder to win. Watching today's action and seeing all those student-athletes, especially our team, compete for that trophy was awesome. I look forward to battling many more times in this new format."
Alabama will now await its postseason fate. The NCAA Regionals are scheduled to be announced sometime in early May.
Quarterfinal Match Play Results (Alabama wins, 3-1-1)
Lee Hodges defeated Sam Burns, 1up in 20
Josh Sedeno defeated Eric Ricard, 1up in 21
Luis Gagne defeated Steven Setterstrom, 3up
Brandon Pierce vs. Davis Riley, All Square
Jonathan Hardee defeated Philip Barbaree, 1up
Semifinal Match Play Results (Texas A&M wins, 3-2)
Lee Hodges defeated Brandon Smith, 1up
Andrew Paysse defeated Josh Sedeno, 2up
Cameron Champ defeated Steven Setterstrom, 1up
Jonathan Hardee defeated Dan Erickson, 2up
Chandler Phillips defeated Davis Riley, 3up
