On Friday, Alabama announced that Alex Gholston and Quanesha Burks would represent the women’s track and field team on the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America Track & Field/Cross Country team. Gholston claimed one of 15 first-team spots while Burks represented the Crimson Tide on the second-team.

“This really shows the balance we strive for at Alabama,” coach Dan Waters said. “To have an NCAA champion and All-American also earn Academic All-America is a tremendous feat. We are very proud of everything Quanesha and Alex have accomplished to this point in their Crimson Tide careers.”

Burks, a junior from Hartselle, Alabama majoring in elementary education, finished the year with a cumulative 3.5 grade point average. She claimed the 2016 NCAA Indoors long jump title after winning the same event at the 2015 NCAA Indoors Championships. Burks again had a strong showing at the recent NCAA Outdoors Championships where she finished as the runner-up. She also currently holds the 10 best jumps in Alabama women’s track & field history, and her SEC Outdoor Championship winning jump was the best in the NCAA in all of 2016. 

Gholston, an English major from Town Creek, Alabama, finished her junior year with 4.0 cumulative grade point average. She finished 16th at the 2016 NCAA Championships in the 400 meter, and posted a personal-best time of 52.11 at the SEC Championships. She ran the first leg in a Crimson Tide 4×400 relay team that recorded the school’s fifth, sixth and eighth fastest times during the course of 2016. 

The two women are the fifth and sixth members of the women’s track and field program to earn Academic All-America honors. Both Gholston and Burks also joined junior thrower Joe Williams from the men’s team on the 2016 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Track & Field/Cross Country Team earlier this year.