Courtesy: Alabama Athletics
ATHENS, Ga. – Alabama senior Robert Howard was voted the Southeastern Conference Male Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league coaches, which was announced Friday in Athens, Ga., during the fourth day of the 2019 SEC Championships.
“This is a great honor for Robert and our program,” UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. “His drive and determination in both the classroom and pool set a great example for everyone associated with our program and makes him the epitome of what we look for in a student-athlete.”
Howard’s honor marks the fourth year in a row that an Alabama swimmer has been named the league’s top male scholar-athlete, following Connor Oslin (2016 and 2017) and Luke Kaliszak (2018).
The Alexander City, Ala., native is a nine-time All-American and four-time SEC champion through the third day of this year’s championships. This week alone he has been part of two relays that won conference titles in SEC record times, as well as winning the 50 freestyle on Wednesday.
A CoSIDA Academic All-American, Howard carries a 4.0 grade point average in accounting and is a three-time CSCAA Scholar All-American.
Howard is slated to swim on two more relays as well as the 100 freestyle before the championships come to a close Saturday night.
Good culture they’ve got going at Bama with 4 straight scholar-athlete awards.