Alex Hyland Named SEC Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Three days before No. 9 Kentucky is set to participate in the evening session of the Southeastern Conference Championship in New Orleans on Saturday, senior Alex Hyland was named the program’s first SEC Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year alongside Auburn’s Samantha Cerio.
 
“I am so incredibly proud of this young lady,” said UK head coach Tim Garrison. “She exemplifies everything that is positive about college athletics. She has taken full advantage of her athletic and academic experience, and she is as close to an ideal role model as you are likely to find. She will forever hold a special place in this program and in the hearts of our team and staff.”
 
The award, voted on by league coaches and given out annually since 2004, is meant to honor athletes who excel in both the classroom and athletic competition. A kinesiology major from Foxborough, Mass., Hyland has posted a nearly perfect grade-point average of 3.944 over her four years on campus. She earned a spot on the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2017 and 2018, as well as the First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2016.

Hyland’s accolades in competition can be found all over the school record books. She owns the team’s second-highest bars score (9.925), shares the fourth-best beam score (9.900) and the second-best mark on floor (9.925), and owns the third-best all-around score (39.550) of the season. She ranks as the nation’s 17th-best all-around performer, No. 44 on vault, No. 62 on bars, No. 23 on beam, and No. 64 on floor. She has claimed individual victories on every event this season: twice each on vault, bars, and floor, and three times on beam and all-around.
 
On her career, Hyland qualified as an individual competitor in the NCAA Championships in both 2016 and 2017 and won the 2017 SEC Championship on beam. She was named NAGAC All-America in 2017, All-SEC in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and SEC All-Freshman in 2016. She has earned a total of 36 individual victories in that time.
 
Hyland and the Wildcats will return to action on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET at the Smoothie King Center, home of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, live on ESPN2.
 
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