MONTGOMERY, Ala. | Alabama State University athletics turned in another year full of highlights on the field and in the classroom that kept program back atop the SWAC by the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
The year resulted in winning the James Frank Commissioners Cup as the top overall Athletic program in the SWAC for the eighth time in 10 years. The Women's athletic programs also captured the Sadie Magee/Barbara Jacket Award as the top women's athletic program for the 10
th time in 11 years. The men's athletic program finished second in the C.D. Henry Award standings for the top men's athletic program.
"Our student-athletes continue to put in the hard work hard to make Alabama State University one of the top athletic programs in the SWAC and nationally," Alabama State University Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Jason Cable said. " I am extremely proud of our student-athletes, coaches, and administration for all their hard work in 2023-24."
Below is a year in review for the 2023-24 Alabama State University Athletic season!
ATHLETICS OVERVIEW
- Won Southwestern Athletic Conference James Frank Commissioner's Cup award. Alabama State University's eight cup in the last 10 years.
- The women's athletic programs won the Sadie Magee/Barbara Jacket Award as the conference's top women's athletics program for the 10th time in 11 years.
- The men's athletics program finished 2nd in the SWAC for the C.D. Henry Award for men's athletics programs.
- Alabama State won its 5th straight SWAC Academic Achievement Award.
- Alabama State captured five (5) conference tournament and three (3) regular season titles and now owns 128 SWAC Championships. SWAC Championships were won in volleyball (regular season), women's outdoor track, women's golf, women's bowling and men's and women's tennis (regular season and tournament).
- Alabama State bowling defeated 12 top 20 nationally ranked opponents during the 23-24 season.
- Alabama State men's tennis earned its first ever ITA National Ranking entering the poll as the 75th ranked team in the country on March 20.
- Alabama State men's tennis earned victory over ITA 67th ranked Dartmouth University Men's tennis Team.
- Alabama State baseball earned a 3-2 upset over Auburn University on April 9, at Plainsman Park.
- Jose Vazquez was selected as Manager for the USA Collegiate National Baseball Team.
- Jamal George and Luis Rodriguez were selected to the USA Collegiate National Baseball Summer Tour Team.
- Jamarion Stubbs earned NCAA All-American honors in the NCAA 200m.
- Jamarion Stubbs qualified for the NCAA Nationals in the 100m and 200m dash.
- Jamarion Stubbs 20.18 to set a SWAC and Personal Record.
- Jamarion Stubbs qualified for the Olympic Trials finals and finished 7th overall.
- 8 Track and Field Athletes won individual SWAC titles and qualified for the NCAA Regionals.
- 7 SWAC Athletes/Players of the Year.
- 12 SWAC All-Tournament selections.
- 45 All-SWAC selections.
- 53 Student-Athletes named SWAC Players of the Week.
- SWAC leading 69 percent student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA or higher.
- 14 teams boasted a 3.0 team GPA.
- 249 Student-Athletes posted a 3.0 GPA or higher.
- 4 SWAC Coaches of the Year.
- 4 Student-Athletes named SWAC Freshman of the Year
- Assistant Coach Robert Clark inducted into the African American Sports Legends Hall of Fame.
FACILITIES UPGRADES
- A new video board and audio system installed at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex
- New audio system installed at Barbara Williams softball complex.
- A new video board, scoreboard, ribbon board and audio system installed at the Houston Markham Football Complex.
- A new replay system was installed at Lockhart Gymnasium.
- Construction is completed for a new Golf training facility scheduled to open in the fall of 2024.
BAMASTATESPORTS.COM AND SOCIAL MEDIA
- The new BamaStateSports.com website debuts in the Fall 2023.
- Website traffic averages 100K visitors per month with 66K organic searches.
- The average visitor spent 4 minutes per session on bamastatesports.com.
- Reactivated/Recovered the BamaStateSports football X account
- Launched the Hornet Sports Network featuring video feature packages and live video streams.
- Launched the BamaStateSports app.
- Top Twitter Account followers: @BamaStateSports 21.7k, @BamaStateBB 23.1K, @BamaStateFB 40K.
ACADEMICS
- 0 teams had APR penalties for the 22-23 Academic Year
- 4 teams earned a cumulative GPA of 2.9.
- 14 teams earned a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above.
- SWAC leading 69 percent student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA or higher.
- 41 graduated this spring 2024 semester .
- 42 student-athletes earned a term GPA of 4.0 .
- 50 Students were inducted or honored for Chi Alpha Sigma.
- 249 student-athletes earned a 3.0 cumulative GPA or above. (That's 44 more students who earned a 3.0 or above since the last report).
- 1470 Community Service Hours Completed
- Athletic Department cumulative GPA - 3.277
REVENUE GENERATION
- 43% increase in the total number of corporate partnerships within athletics.
- 23.7% increase in total basketball season ticket sales
- 8.58% increase in total football season ticket holders.
- 13% in the overall total number of donors to athletics.
FOOTBALL
- Alabama State went 7-4 overall under 2nd Year Head Coach Eddie Robinson.
- Alabama State posted 7 wins for the first time since 2014.
- ASU's five-game winning streak was the first since 2013.
- 8 Hornets earned All-SWAC Honors.
- Colton Adams was named FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) Central Defensive Player of the Year.
- Colton Adams named CSC (College Sports Communicators) Academic All-American.
- Mikey Victor invited to the East-West Shrine Bowl.
- ASU Defensive Staff and 7 players represented Alabama State in the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Pigskin Showdown.
- Colton Adams, Mikey Victor, and Kisean Johnson earned All-American Honors.
- Mikey Victory was named the Aeneas Williams Award Finalist.
- Mikey Victory signed an NFL free agent contract with the New England Patriots.
- Eddie Robinson name Black College Football Hall of Fame Finalist
VOLLEYBALL
- Won the SWAC Regular Season Championship.
- Posted a 16-0 SWAC record and finished the season 18-13.
- Outside hitter Jada Rhodes was named an honorable mention AVCA All-American.
- Jada Rhodes SWAC Player of the Year.
- Temperance Chatman was named to the All-Tournament team.
- Won 16 straight matches to close the record season, 17 straight matches overall.
WOMEN'S BOWLING
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
- Women's Track and Field won the SWAC Outdoor Championship.
- Ritchie Beene was named SWAC Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year.
- Jamarion Stubbs earned NCAA All-American honors in the NCAA 200m.
- Jamarion Stubbs qualified for the NCAA Nationals in the 100m and 200m dash.
- Jamarion Stubbs 20.18 to set a SWAC and Personal Record.
- Jamarion Stubbs qualified for the Olympic Trials finals and finished 7th overall.
- Shamia Jones is the most outstanding track and field performer in Women's Indoor & Outdoor.
- 8 Track and Field Athletes won individual SWAC titles.
BASEBALL
- Head Coach Jose Vazquez was selected as Manager for the USA Collegiate National Team.
- Jamal George and Luis Rodriguez selected to USA Collegiate National Baseball Summer Tour Tea
- Six Hornets selected for annual HBCU Ken Griffey Swingman Classic (Randy Flores, Jamal George, Ali Lapred, Juan Cruz, Luis Rodriguez, Jafet Martinez)
- Juan Cruz was named SWAC Freshman of the Year and earned SWAC All-Tournament laurels.
- Ali LaPread was named the SWAC Player of the Year.
- Ali LaPread, Juan Cruz, Kyler McIntosh, and Randy Flores earned All-SWAC postseason honors.
- The Hornets led the SWAC in doubles (120), doubles per game (2.14), Hits (618), Home runs (67), and home runs per game (1.2).
- .321 batting average ranked 2nd in the SWAC and 5th in the NCAA.
- Juan Cruz ranked 2nd in the SWAC with a .388 batting average.
- Ali Lapread led the SWAC and ranked 19th in the NCAA with 75 runs scored.
- Randy Flores ranked 19th in the NCAA with 31 stolen bases.
- 3-2 upset over Auburn University on April 9, at Plainsman Park
SOFTBALL
- Made the Semifinals of the SWAC Softball Tournament
- Kindall DeRamus NCAA Statistical Champion with 0.19 triples per game and led the NCAA and SWAC with 9 triples.
- 4 All-SWAC Selections | 25 All-SWAC Selections since 2017
- Led the Division I and the SWAC in Triples Per game (0.54)
- 132 Stolen Bases ranked 2nd in the SWAC and 4th in the NCAA
- 5.04 runs per game ranked 3rd in the SWAC.
- Kindall DeRamus 1.06 runs score per game ranked 1st in the SWAC and 21st nationally
- 2.32 Stolen Bases per game ranked 2nd in the SWAC and 5th nationally
- Kindal DeRamus' .410 batting average ranked 2nd in the SWAC.
- Kendall Smiley's 70 hits led the SWAC.
- Kendal Smiley's 7 triples ranked 2nd in the SWAC and 3rd in the NCAA.
- Charity Bibbs' led the SWAC with 38 pitching appearances.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
- TJ Madlock was named Second-Team All-SWAC
- The Hornets made the SWAC Tournament for the first time since 2019.
- Led the SWAC and ranked 11th in the NCAA in fast break points 14.88 per game.
- 41.2 field goal percentage led the SWAC.
- 7.0 3-pointers per game ranked 3rd in the SWAC.
- 14.16 offensive rebounds per game led the SWAC and ranked 8th nationally.
- 39.5 rebounds per game led the SWAC and ranked 25th nationally.
- 69.4 points allowed per game ranked 2nd in the SWAC.
- 3.8 blocks per game ranked 2nind the SWAC.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
- Head Coach Freda Freeman Jackson was inducted into the Alabama State Athletics Hall of Fame.
- Cordasia Harris led the SWAC in field goal percentage (53.0).
- Cordasia Harris ranked 2nd in the SWAC with 1.9 block shots per game.
- Cordasia Harris ranked 3rd in the SWAC with 8.6 rebounds per game.
- Freshman Anaja Hall 1.19 blocks per game ranked 9th in the SWAC.
MEN'S TENNIS
- Earned its first ever ITA National Ranking entering the poll as the 75th ranked team in the country on March 20.
- Earned victory over ITA 67th ranked Dartmouth University Men's tennis Team.
- Won the SWAC Regular Season for the 7th straight year.
- Won the SWAC Tournament title for the 3rd straight year.
- Head Coach Anuk Christiansz named the SWAC Coach of the Year.
- David Jeanne Grandinot, Alexandre Verlaguet, Sam Bajracharya, and Kristofer Johnson earned All-SWAC Tournament honors.
- Kristofer Johnson was named tournament MVP.
- 5 Hornets earned All-SWAC honors.
- David Jeanne-Grandinot was named SWAC Player of the Year.
WOMEN'S TENNIS.
- Won the SWAC Regular Season Title.
- Won the SWAC Tournament Title.
- Head Coach Anuk Christiansz was named the SWAC Coach of the Year.
- Bea Acena and Timothee Legaud earned All-SWAC Honors.
- Sahra Bouchaala was named the SWAC Tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Madalena Andrade and Bea Acena.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
WOMEN'S SOCCER
MEN'S GOLF
- Alabama State finished 2nd at the 2024 SWAC Golf Championships.
- Assistant Coach Robert Clark inducted into the African American Sports Legends Hall of Fame.
- Ignacio Puente earned First-Team All-SWAC honors.
- Ignacio Puente finished third at the SWAC Golf Championships.
- Two Hornets posted top 10 finishes at the PGA Works Championships.
WOMEN'S GOLF
