Alabama Track & Field To Begin
NCAA Outdoor Championships Today
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics/Robert Sutton |
EUGENE, Ore. – It begins today...the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and the University of Alabama will be well represented. The Crimson Tide has sent 19 athletes to compete in 17 individual events, along with the men's and women's 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays to the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, today through the 10th at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.
UA track & field has qualified athletes in the sprints, hurdles, distance, jumps, throws and pole vault to compete in this year's contest, giving the Tide one of the most diverse teams at this year's championships.
Competing for the Alabama track & field men will be freshman Will Allen (4x400 relay), sophomore Skyler Bowden (4x400 relay), junior Tony Brown (100 meters, 4x100 relay), junior Alfred Chelanga (10,000 meters), senior Klyvens Delaunay (triple jump), senior Robbie Farnham-Rose (1,500 meters), senior Steven Gayle (400 meters, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay), sophomore Will Herrscher (pole vault), senior Antibahs Kosgei (10,000 meters), senior McLean Lipschutz (javelin), junior Jereem Richards (200 meters, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay), junior Ruebin Walters (110-meter hurdles, 4x100 relay) and senior Joe Williams (discus). Freshman Alize Ford, junior Terry Jernigan and senior Jacopo Lahbi will travel to Eugene as relay alternates.
Qualifying for the Alabama women are senior Quanesha Burks (long jump, 100 meters, 4x100 relay), freshman Symone Darius (4x100 relay, 4x400 relay), sophomore Stacey Destin (high jump), junior Filippa Fotopoulou (long jump), senior Diamond Gause (4x100 relay, 4x400 relay), junior Danielle McConnell (hammer throw), freshman Takyera Roberson (400 meters, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay), senior Lakan Taylor (pole vault), senior Domonique Williams (400 meters, 4x400 relay) and freshman Samantha Zelden (javelin). Junior Olivia Fotopoulou, senior Alex Gholston, sophomore Janel Pate and sophomore Kristyn Williams will serve as relay alternates.
UA track & field head coach Dan Waters said, "This is a very diverse group going to Eugene. We can score in just about every area of the sport - sprints, jumps, throws, distance, relays, hurdles and the pole vault. We have several seniors who have meant a lot to this program competing for Alabama for the final time and we also have a number of first-time qualifiers who are the future of our program. It's a great mix and we have a chance to turn in some strong performances."
The Alabama men's track and field team moved up one spot to No. 3, while the women climbed three spots to No. 11 in the latest U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Rankings, released May 30. The men's team is ranked with 235.10 points while the women's team checks in with 147.39 points.
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Brad Bohannon Formally Introduced
As New University Of Alabama Baseball Coach
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| Kim Bohannon (l), Greg Byrne (c) & Brad Bohannon (r) Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – A new era in Crimson Tide baseball has begun. University of Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne formally introduced Brad Bohannon as the UA head baseball coach at a press conference in the Mal M. Moore Athletics Facility this week.
Byrne stated, "As we were identifying potential candidates, Brad Bohannon's name continued to surface. We sat down on Monday in our home in Tuscaloosa. What I thought it was going to be was an hour conversation of getting reintroduced to Brad and talking a little about the program, and about three and a half hours later he left my house. I could tell right away this is where he wanted to be. He wanted to work with our current team. He wanted to work with our alums and former baseball players and understands the importance in that. He wanted to work with our fanbase and our community. He had a really solid academic and compliance plan. He also had an incredible vision for recruiting."
Bohannon brings a lot of positives with him to the new appointment. He was the 2015 American Baseball Coaches Association and Baseball America National Assistant Coach of the Year, has coached for 14 years in the Southeastern Conference, having served as an assistant at Kentucky from 2004-15 and, most recently, Auburn from 2016-17. Regarded as one of the best recruiters in the nation, Bohannan was responsible for signing 13 Wildcat student-athletes that eventually went on to play professional baseball. His first recruiting class at Auburn University was ninth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball and includes six current starting position players. In his statement, Bohannon said, "I really think anything can be achieved here at The University of Alabama. My goal going forward is to make Alabama the absolute best place to place college baseball in the country, and we have everything we need in place to make that happen. We're going to do that by being a players-first program. Everything that we do as a coaching staff is going to be about making sure that our kids get their college degree, helping them grow as men and hopefully one day be great husbands and fathers while helping them become the best versions of themselves as a baseball player."
Prior to his time with the Kentucky Wildcats, Bohannon worked for two seasons at Wake Forest as an assistant on George Greer's staff. The Demon Deacons advanced to the NCAA tournament twice and captured the Atlantic Coast Conference title in 2001 during his two seasons there.
Collegiate coaching isn't all that Bohannon has done, having spent the summer of 2005 managing the Southern Ohio Copperheads of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.
Concerning his education, Bohannon earned an undergraduate degree in finance in 1998 from Berry College in Georgia. He then went on to earn a master's degree in business administration from Wake Forest in 2002. Bohannon began his collegiate career playing at Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech before finishing up at Berry.
Bohannon is a native of Rome, Georgia and is married to the former Kim Traylor.
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| Bohannon & Byrne meet with UA Baseball team Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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| Brad Bohannon chats with Nick Saban Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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UA Track & Field's Quanesha Burks
Named To Bowerman Award Watch List
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| UA Track & Field's Quanesha Burks is honored Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
This is Burks fifth appearance on the Bowerman watch list this season and the seventh of her career. Burks will begin competition at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday, entered in the long jump and 100 meters as an individual, and will also run on the Crimson Tide's 4x100-meter relay.
Burks currently holds the UA school record in the women's indoor and outdoor long jump and won her third consecutive Southeastern Conference outdoor long jump title at the 2017 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships back on May 12th. She is only the fourth Tide female track & field athlete to win three or more conference titles in one individual event.
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