Alabama's Lauren Beers earns third NCAA Elite 90 Award

FT. WORTH, Texas -- Alabama senior Lauren Beers was named the 2016 NCAA Elite 90 Award winner for the sport of gymnastics at the NCAA Championship Banquet, held in Ft. Worth, Texas Wednesday night.

It was an unprecedented third consecutive Elite 90 Award for Beers and gave the Crimson Tide an equally unprecedented clean sweep of the award since its inception in 2010. "We are so very proud of Lauren and ecstatic for our program to be able to continue to earn this amazing honor," UA head coach Dana Duckworth said. "Our ladies put a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication into their academic pursuits and this is a shining example of what can happen when your standard is excellence."

Alabama is a perfect seven-for-seven in the award that goes to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average at the final site of each of the NCAA's 90 championship. The Tide is the only program across all sports to sweep the award.

"What an extraordinary accomplishment," Duckworth said. "Our program is proud to have earned all seven of these awards. We have tremendous gratitude for Jon Dever, Fern Hampton and all the staff at the Bill Battle Academic Center for their daily commitment in supporting our student athletes academically. I also want to thank The University of Alabama and our administration for providing the tools that allow our women to be the best version of themselves in every area of their life. We are truly fortunate."

A native of Warren Center, Pa., Beers earned her undergraduate degree in exercise science in August with a perfect 4.0 GPA. The 2016 SEC Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year, she is currently pursuing a master's degree in sports management. A six-time All-American, Beers won the floor exercise at the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional Championships two weeks ago.

Kassi Price won the inaugural award in 2010 and was followed by Rachel Terry, who earned the honor in back-to-back years in 2011 and 2012. NCAA Champion and 2014 senior Kim Jacob earned the award in 2013.

On Friday, Beers and her teammates will compete in the second semifinal session of the NCAA Championships which gets underway at 7 p.m. at the Fort Worth Convention Center.